Code Geass R2: From Within
by theAsh0
Summary: Post R1/ alt R2: At the promise of revenge on his mother's killer, Lelouch finds himself within the Geass Order. As V.V. will find out, there is nothing more dangerous than the enemy within. Rated T for violence. I can never figure the right Genre for these things... intrigue/spy/action I'd say. (LuxKa, CCxRo if you look for it ;) )
1. Chapter 1

**Hello my readers, and thank you for your positive responses. I feel the need to touch on a few points before putting this out; first, this thing is meant as a somewhat mature/darker thing then my main story, Gambit. This will be a lot more serious; with clever, clever spy shit; I've been meaning to write that for a while. I'm still not entirely sure I am 'clever clever' enough to do so, but I'm gonna try anyway. **

**IMPORTANT NOTES: this starts after R1; pretense: when Marianne died, she actually died. As such, Charles is well and truly pissed at his brother; and also has some serious doubts about the chances of their 'Ragnarok' connection working. (The one where they destroy the gods and put an end to all lies). Also, I'm not certain this is as canon. But at the time of Lelouch's capture Schneizel is fighting the Japanese Rebels. **

**As Avian Reader pointed out, Rolo's Geass in this story has a somewhat more limited range then in the Canon. **

**Special thanks as usual for theFinalArbiter for beta-ing!**

**Gotto thank Avian Reader for pointing out speech OOC!**

**~~-C-~~**

Charles Zi Britannia, 98th Emperor of the holy Britannian Empire had to work to keep the unconcerned, regal frown on his face as he took in the visage before him. _This is it; _he realized. _This is the trump card I've needed to win the game_. This road would show Charles a way to take vengeance on his brother.

Before him, in the vast emptiness of his throne room, two boys knelt in supplication. One held himself proudly: back straight despite his position, with a determined gleam to his eye. In his pristine white suit with golden trimming, the boy looked every inch Britannian royalty despite his obvious Japanese features under that mop of brown hair.

The other boy, however, fought and hissed like a cat in a bag: had it not been for a rather undignified restraining suit, and the added hand of the first boy fixing his head against the marble floor, the child would likely be in the process of ripping his liege's throat out with his bare teeth. It was all impotent rage, though; and the cuts and bruises the dark-haired boy was collecting for his efforts only served to make him look even more like a peasant.

It was almost comical to realize which of these two his biological son was.

The 98th Emperor allowed himself a small smirk. "An interesting proposition, Kururugi Suzaku. And under the circumstances, We think We will agree to your terms. You are hereby elevated to a Kight of Rounds. We hereby bestow upon thy, the number Seven."

The Japanese boy nodded, but didn't smile. Little wonder; he and his captive had apparently been friends on one point. But such things hardly mattered to Charles now. "As your first official task as a number of Rounds, We would like you to contact Schneizel and relay to him that we need him to abandon his position and return with his armies to the homeland, right now."

The newly appointed knight seemed shocked. "But he is in the middle of fighting a decisive battle against the Black Knights, my liege."

The old King schooled his features. "And one We never even condoned him entering into in the first place. We are tempted to think that son of Us considers himself the Emperor by now; he will return right now for a good reprimand." Charles looked down on his younger son again, gesturing with feigned disgust. "Cover up this thing's left eye before you go."

There was another bit of a scene as Kururugi covered that Geass-bearing red blazing eye using his own sash. The Emperor ignored the screaming and kicking, pretending to find imaginary dirt on his clothes to dust off.

Only after Kururugi had excused himself and closed the door behind him did the Emperor approach his fallen son. Charles looked down to study the boy before him, feeling a strange surge of pride at finding him still glaring at his father in defiance, though he had only one eye free to do so.

If Charles didn't know any better, he would have thought the boy incredibly stupid. But Charles _did_ now better; it was not only that his son had shown - as the revolutionary Zero - clearly that he was a capable strategist and fighter. Charles had known long, long before. Because he paid more attention to his children than anyone ever gave him credit for. And this boy, along with Schneizel, was his favorite amongst them. That was because those two were the only ones of his children with half a brain amongst the lot.

Admittedly, Schneizel was likely the smarter of the two. But what this one might lack in that department, he definitely made up for in sheer tenacity. Not to mention the boy in front of him had always had a knack for questioning authority and disregarding the rules at the worst of times.

Keeping these features in mind, V.V. was likely to label the boy as an unruly idiot. Charles smirked again, reveling at the idea of finally having a 'one-up' on his immortal brother. "So…" Charles began, completely ignoring the fact that the teen in front of him was obviously trying to figure out how he could cause his father the most damage in his current bound state. "Tell me, Lelouch, Do you still want revenge on your mother's killer?"

His son's reaction was most gratifying: he finally abandoned his useless struggles, looking up at his father with nothing short of honest confusion. "…what?" the boy finally managed.

The father sighed; Lelouch had been far more eloquent as a boy; or maybe it was just his current predicament that left him speechless. "I have found your mother's – and I might mention my wife's - killer. But I am having some trouble exacting my revenge on him."

The boy blinked, some of his reason finally returning to him. "First you cast me out, making it obvious you don't care one way or the other. And now you want my _help?_"

The Emperor growled low in his throat, more than a little frustrated. "Don't misunderstand. I am not asking you for forgiveness; not for what I have done, or for what I am about to. Nor do I ask for your loyalty. I just want to make sure, when the time is right. Will you help me _kill_ him?"

The boy's eyes flashed dangerously, but his interests had been piqued. "Kill whom?"

Charles smirked, allowing the Geass power in his own eye to surface. The boy's one eye widened in shock, but he pushed one regardless. "The memories I am about to instill on you are truth; although you might not be able to tell the difference yet, you will soon enough. These memories are the events as they happened, or as close as I have been able to piece together."

And with that, he showed V.V., his brother. He showed their pledge and the curse his older brother had taken up: a curse of immortality. He showed their efforts, and his own digressions. And, as Charles slowly lost interest in what had been the brother's combined goal, the intense jealousy that surfaced within the now-forever child V.V.; A jealously that found a focus point in Marianne.

Then, he showed the reconstructed scene, as his forever-young brother shot Marianne. And then the cover up that had been all but forced upon him, this time also involving Nunnally in a mock 'terrorist attack'. For good measure, Charles added in the veiled threats his brother had directed at both Nunnally and Lelouch when it became apparent the young girl would survive her injuries. Only then did he withdraw his power.

His son was literally reeling with the after effects of the installed knowledge. Charles opted to give him a moment, in a rare moment of graciousness. Sadly, when the boy finally spoke he seemed no less confused. "But, that doesn't make any sense. He killed her; and then both of you wounded Nunnally; just for _that_?"

Charles sighed, not really willing to go into detail; but understanding the need none the less. "You forget, my brother may have lived over fifty years by now, but his emotions will never mature."

"You're lying." The boy finally growled. "What would you need me for anyway? He is just one boy."

"When we started on our path, my brother and I distributed the powers at our disposal. I rule the Empire, he rules the Geass Order. I am beginning to believe I got the shorter end of the deal with that."

This only served to confuse the boy further; "Geass _Order_? What is that?"

"You are about to find out." The father assured his son. "So what is it, a yes or a no? I'll sweeten the deal for you; Nunnally." Inwardly, he smirked at the boy's expression falling. "I'll take good care of her for you. And once my brother is dead, you can have her back."

The boy still glowered at him, so as an afterthought he added: "You're welcome to go back to scheming for my end after this if you want."

It was enough. "Fine then." The boy conceded, his shoulder sagging a little. "But I am not sure how am I supposed to kill an immortal."

Charles smirked again. "Well, therein lies the crux of the problem, doesn't it?"

But he didn't give his son time to dwell on any of it. Charles required the boy's promise fresh in his mind when the memory seal he was about to place was broken. Again, the red sigil formed in the Emperor's eye. "Lelouch vi Britannia." He intoned, grabbing the boy's unruly bags of black hair to ensure eye contact. "I install within the false memories of a false life…"

**~~-R-~~**

The shots of machine guns all but drowned out the insistent voice of his commander in his ear. "Agent Rolo!" it stated again, with all the authority of a general, though the man held only a sergeant's rank. "Stop messing about and kill the target."

"I'm trying, sir." The young assassin winced, keeping his head down low behind the rather scanty protection of a rose bush: if it hadn't been for the falling night, he would have been shot dead by now. "But the intelligence was wrong; those girls were not his lovers; they are trained bodyguards." He pointed out, still reeling from the attack that had almost knocked him out.

If it hadn't been for his Geass stopping all live from moving, that knife thrown at his head would have split his skull, rather than hitting him with the hilt-end and only stunning him momentarily.

The two female bodyguards had taken that moment to drag their boss out of the garden and back into the wooden-floored summer mansion. From there they had quickly armed themselves and started spraying bullets in his direction.

Yes; Rolo, the first-class assassin, had failed. But personally, he held that rather lousy intelligence report to blame for the error.

He doubted his commander would see it like that though. "Then use your Geass to stop them and charge the place."

Rolo felt a little sick. "They are out of my range."

Not to mention he was a little short of firepower decked out only with a silenced hand-gun. Stealth was no longer an option; but he could have hardly carried his semi-automatic with him when he had snuck onto the gardens.

His commander, Sergeant Farray, had never been known to listen to reason. "Then charge first and then Geass them."

There was nothing for it; it was a suicide tactic. Even if he only needed to cross about ten meters before getting into Geass range, he would be dead as soon as his assailants realized where he was hiding. But he could hardly disobey orders.

Rolo swallowed once more, mentally preparing himself for almost certain death. But just as he was about to affirm his orders, another voice broke in on their conversation. It was low and unworried, despite the sounds of machine guns accompanying it putting the speaker a lot closer to the bodyguards then Rolo currently was. "Belay that, five seconds."

A whole different kind of dread filled Rolo at hearing his 'brother' thus. _Oh no, here we go again!_ He surmised, knowing full well that there was nothing to do about it now. The sergeant, as usual, was less indulgent. "Agent Lelouch!" the man all but screamed through his headset. "You are supposed to be guarding the front exit. I don't know what you think you're doing, but..."

"One second." Lelouch announced from his end.

Despite his earlier reservations, Rolo got ready for his charge. With a raging sergeant in his ear, Rolo watched as the two bodyguards froze, a spray of bullets hitting them from below.

Rolo charged; activating his Geass only when he was well in range, and neatly put a bullet into the heads of the bodyguards and then into his target. He released the power, sighing softly as he announced to his superiors that the job was done. Then, he walked out of the house and turned to his fake brother and partner; scowling despite the feeling of relief over making it out of this alive.

"You disobeyed orders again, brother." He managed, with a strict face.

The older boy finally managed to pull himself out from under the floorboards of the house, radiating the younger boy with his most winning smile from behind his eye path. "It would have been easier to follow them if they weren't so crazy-stupid all the time. Besides; someone has to take care of my little brother."

Rolo's scowl only deepened. Damn that man; he knew quite well their commander could hear every word they were saying. Having to play the part of younger brother to this imposter was one thing, but it also meant he was likely to get punished for this insubordination as well.

Again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes completely unrelated to this story: **

**Gambit is NOT on hold; there's a new chapter in the pipeline, and it just needs one last run past the reviews before going up. Shouldn't be more than a day. **

**CourtCase is on Hold until I've finalized how to tie it in with Gambit. It's meant as a continuation after all.**

**Special thanks to the FinalArbiter for proofreading this.**

**~~-V-~~**

V.V. smiled serenely as he entered Emperor Charles's empty white throne room. As was Charles's – originally the younger of the two - habit, he had sent all his aids and entourage away before meeting him. It was better that way; after all, it would have been only a matter of time before attendants had come to notice that the strange boy that kept meeting with their king never seemed to age a day. Even after all these years.

The boy-forever had made it to the bottom of the steps before Charles stood smoothly from his throne and made his way down the steps to greet him in an embrace. "V.V., it's been too long." The big man announced, affectionately.

V.V. smiled genuinely at that. "That it has, Charles. That it has; tell me, how goes the war effort?"

Charles released the boy from his bear-hug to shrug. "It's a bit of a stalemate of late, but at least we still hold Kyushu. Taking Tokyo back is the real problem, because we can hardly risk losing the Sakuradite mines over this. We'll have to take them back without any chance of them getting destroyed. Still, I have full confidence Cornelia will handle this eventually."

V.V. could not help but snort. "The Witch of Britannia as the face of power, and her delicate little half-sister as sub-Viceroy to convey our more human face. I admit it is a good combination, and I applaud you for making such good use of a crippled blind girl; but I still think Schneizel would have nipped this little rebellion in the bud."

Charles made a somewhat apologetic gesture. "I actually like Schneizel, and I would like him to take over ruling my Empire one day. But he was getting too far ahead of himself this time. It would have been a shame if I had had to have him executed for attempted treason. Besides; does this situation not suit our purpose? At least, now we know exactly where to find C.C.. Speaking of the witch, how goes the hunt?"

V.V. made no attempt to hide his scowl "Poorly; I am beginning to think you pulled to wool over my eyes on that job of new memories you gave my bait."

Charles chuckled at his sibling. "Indeed. I've heard you can't even get him to write his name on a piece of paper without putting a gun to his head. But you cannot blame me for this, brother. I alter memories, not tempers. The boy has always been unruly; if I had given him memories counter to that it would only have damaged their credibility.

"I've given him a simple enough history, and I thought adding a younger brother in there would be all the leverage you needed. Two brothers orphaned at ten and eight, turned out of every orphanage until the Order took them in four years later. You should be able to exploit that, I'd say."

That sliver of distrust V.V. carried against his brother resurfaced then; and the boy narrowed his eyes at the large Emperor, trying to discern if the man was being truthful to him. Once upon a time, there was complete honesty between the two siblings. But that time was long-lost; the boy knew. Sometimes, the immortal wished he could have gone back to that day when he had shot the Empress and undo the deed; just to return to those days of absolute trust.

The 98th Emperor had never voiced any threats against his brother; had never given any indication of carrying a grudge about his favorite wife's murder to this day. It didn't really surprise V.V.; after all, what was a man to do against an immortal being like him? But V.V. knew his brother well, and he had not missed that gleam in the Emperor's eyes when he had first discovered his wife's death, and who was responsible for it. That gleam had said he would pay; and Charles was not a man to forgive and forget.

V.V. sighed, rubbing the side of his head; long tresses of blond hair in his way as usual. Another part of the Code's curse; he could not even cut his hair without it growing back in an instant. Personally, V.V. thought he had suffered quite enough punishment for his digression. The inability to trust his brother, who had always been his one true ally, hurt him beyond words. "You made it so they were turned out because of disciplinary issues every time. It's definitely a believable enough cover story, thank you, brother. And I suppose it will have to do; we can hardly change things now."

He should stop this doubting; it only served to make him unhappy. Still, V.V. somehow felt he had been cheated when he had bartered for the brother. Perhaps he should have demanded to be given the sister instead? As useless as she seemed, at least Nunnally seemed willing to follow orders.

**~~-R-~~**

It was a grey, overcast sky that greeted Rolo the next time he got to see it. Despite that, he had to stop to blink back the tears from the sudden overabundance of light.

That was likely the reason he had first missed the presence lounging a little behind him on the barrack's wall. Tall and thin, dressed in a standard military outfit that Rolo was never able to convince himself fitted the man. His black hair were wild and long enough to half obscure the eye patch that covered the blazing red eye of Geass that could no longer be turned off. Rolo threw his fake brother an angry glare before quickly marching away.

As he had expected, the elder boy quickly caught up with him. For an angry minute, Rolo awaited an apology. When it was obvious none would be forthcoming, the younger agent huffed to himself

"I'm not talking to you, Lelouch; this is your fault." Despite this being his true intention, he rounded on the other, accusing. "Three days Lelouch! Three days in a dark bloody cell, because you can't keep your mouth shut!"

Rolo supposed the other's one eye not meeting his meant that at some level, his 'big brother' did feel guilty. The younger's anger was genuine though; for once, Rolo's act was easy to keep up. "Tell me, brother, what punishment did you get for breaking orders again, and then rubbing it in with insults to your superiors?"

The elder shrugged, even his normal eye hidden now, under his bangs. "Just a bit of basic training."

It hardly seemed fair to Rolo; sure, Lelouch hated to be made running tracks and the likes, but Rolo would have been happy to trade.

"Wonderful; I get solitary and you get a stroll in the park. Why can't you ever follow orders, Lelouch? It's not that hard, really." He prodded an angry finger at his fake brother, completely happy to guilt-trip him. "And if you really, really have to disobey, you say: _'I'm really sorry for messing up. It won't happen again_.' Can you say that, Lelouch?"

The black-haired boy had crossed his arms, and was now studying some grass to his side. Rolo was half of a mind to stalk off, before his 'brother' finally answered. "I _am _sorry." Rolo was afraid to breath, waiting for the rest.

"For getting you involved. It's completely unfair; I bet there's some sort of law against that if you ask me."

Rolo sighed; it was too much to get the other to concede even this far, it seemed. "Never mind."

The younger agent meant to turn away and return to his dorm then; but he was called back. "This is why I thought I'd get you a treat to cheer you up."

A hint of confusion in his voice, Rolo turned to regard his 'brother' once more. "Treat?"

The elder's bare eye was practically beaming. "It's a one and a half hour hike into town and tonight's a big party."

Rolo felt that hackle back on his neck rise again; the one that said he was about to get into trouble and wouldn't even have the chance to back out. "We're not allowed off grounds and we don't have any cash anyway."

The elder shrugged again, dropping his tone to a conspirator's whisper. "The guards will turn a blind eye if we're back before O-six hundred. As for money,…" with a bit of a flourish, Lelouch pulled a stack of bills from his pocket, fingering though the bills to give Rolo an indication of how much there was, before offering him a royal amount.

Needless to say, Rolo was mortified. "Have you been gambling with the guards?"

"Oh, please! I doubt I'd be on good enough terms with them for them to let us out for tonight after cleaning them out." Lelouch countered smoothly. "I merely hang around and offer my insights for a slice of the winnings to those interested."

Rolo stared, slack jawed. Then he added two and two together: there was too much money there to be made from just the guard's nightly poker games; especially considering Lelouch had only been here for half a year. Lelouch knew the hike to town was one and a half hours. Lelouch knew there was a party tonight.

"You've done this before." The young assassin stated.

"Once or twice." The other admitted, and then sighed. "If it really bothers you that much to break a few rules, I suppose I could go alone. But it was a close one, that last mission. And I would hate for my little brother to go out and die before he ever even enjoyed any of the finer things in life."

Lelouch? Going alone? That was completely out of the question. "No! No, I'll come."

Rolo's mission –Rolo's _primary _mission, was to stay close to his fake brother at all times.

**~~-L-~~**

Lelouch sighed inwardly as Rolo shoved that over-friendly blonde off of him again. Straight-backed and stiff, his brother then proceeded to march on ahead. In apology, Lelouch offered his free arm to the girl with a smile. Would it hurt his little brother to at least pretend to have a good time?

Rolo had sat nursing a beverage all night; adding little to the conversation and all but ignoring the two female companions Lelouch had managed to charm into their company. The fact that they hung around despite the younger brother's aversion, and had even consented to go on a walk with them, was a small miracle.

"You'll have to forgive my brother for his bad-boy front." He conspired with the two girls. "But he's actually really sensitive when you get to know him."

The darker girl laughed a little too loudly, but the blonde one sighed. He could smell the alcohol strong on her breath. "He's really strong too, isn't he?"

"Oh yes!" Lelouch conceded, honestly; "He's two years younger, and he'd never do anything to hurt me, of course. But if we'd ever fight he'd snap my neck, just like that!" he snapped his fingers, and laughed. The two girls joined in, unworriedly.

It felt good to Lelouch, to pretend he was a normal person. Sure, it was completely fake; an act at best. But it was better than nothing. He knew he didn't amount to much as an agent; even bearing in mind his very useful Geass power. When it came to training, he was always last of the bunch when it came to anything physical. As for theoretics, he always though he picked up things well enough; but every time he had to start over from the basics. Whether it was weapon technology, subterfuge techniques or fighting theoretic, it was like his mind had simply cast out any knowledge more than a few months old.

The realization had been quite a blow to his confidence; because somehow he had always thought any physical shortcomings he might have were more than made up for with brain power. To find his own memory failing him was downright scary.

So no, Lelouch did not think he made a very good Agent. He was pretty certain, however, that he was the only one amongst the Agents and even the Agent-trainees at base that could at least _pretend_ to be a normal person. He could make conversation, he could fake interest in the mundane affairs of others; and he could laugh.

His laughter died on his lips though, as a dark, extended limousine drew up in front of them, blocking the all but silent street.

Two men stepped out to hold the doors for them. They were easily recognized as from The Order. "Master Lelouch; master Rolo. Your presence is required, please get in." the first, bulky man informed, a dangerous gleam in his eye.

Rolo turned obediently on heel, entering the limousine without a pause. Lelouch stayed frozen though, mind already racing. This was very bad.

The second man cut him short. "This should only take a minute; your escorts are more than welcome too, of course."

Lelouch felt sick as the two girls squealed in unison. They both moved forward, but he held their arms, trying in a truly panicked voice. "Ladies; my brother and I are in real trouble here, and so will you be, if you stay. Please run."

Silently, he cursed his brother's blind obedience once again; if Rolo had bothered to help him, instead of jumping to heel, they could have at least provided these two girls a chance to escape.

Oblivious, the dark girl threw him an incredulous look. "And miss my one chance to ride in a luxury limousine like that?"

By then the point was moot, the blonde already striding forward and entering the limousine with an excited laugh.

Lelouch was not quite ready to throw in the towel here; but he resignedly entered the limousine all the same. When the doors were closed – and alarmingly locked from the outside – the elder brother realized that this was indeed a worst-case scenario. Except for him, Rolo and the two girls, the only other occupant of the limo's main seating was that little boy all in white. He was seated against the far window as he looked out. His golden hair reached all the way to the seating, his trademark child-like smile only partially visible.

This was the boy who liked to be revered to as Lord of the Order.

Lelouch had met the boy on only a handful of occasions, and although his memories of the encounters were riddled with holes, he was certain of one important fact: he hated the arrogant little bastard with a vengeance.

The fair-haired child smirked. "Agent Lelouch; out on a town trip again, I see. Isn't this your fifth time already? And even turning your own brother off the straight-and-narrow this time, it appears. Tsk, tsk!"

As much as he would have liked to tell the little prick to shove it, Lelouch had enough sense of responsibility for the situation to at least keep his cool for now. He couldn't fully suppress a wince though, as the blonde girl excitedly nudged the boy she was seated next to.

Both women had been excitedly examining their surroundings; pressing buttons and levers and looking out of the window telling each other this-and–that person would never believe it when they told they had ridden in an actual extended limousine.

"You some kind of prince then, boya?" the girl asked, an intoxicated smirk on her face.

The blonde really wasn't very smart; but the boy's expression had returned to something of a polite smile by the time he turned to face her, assenting with a "Something like that."

She never realized she had sealed her fate with that nudge.

The boy's expression turned pensive a moment, before he suggested: "There is a mini bar in the seating adjourned; why don't you girls help yourselves to something?"

Desperate, Lelouch threw a silent plea for help to his brother; but the other didn't even see. Rolo quietly sat at the far end, studying his hands in his lap.

If Lelouch was going to do anything, it would be on his own. "The ladies really should be getting home by now; or their parents will get worried."

The boy-Lord tsk-ed at him again. "It's a little late for that, wouldn't you say, Lelouch? In fact, there's only one way left to clean up your mess now."

The chattering from the two girls broke off as they noticed the gleaming metal object the boy pulled from his pocket and offered to Lelouch.

"Oh god." The dark, brighter of the two breathed.

Lelouch eyed the gun, but didn't touch it. "You cannot be serious." he hissed at the child.

At that, the boy dropped his pleasant tone, exchanging it for something Lelouch associated with its true nature. "I assure you, practical jokes are not my forte. Now, are you going to take care of this, or will I have to ask your little brother to do it for you?"

Rolo would do it, Lelouch realized, disgusted. His younger brother wouldn't hesitate; wouldn't even see it as wrong. He was that ingrained into their way of thinking. Lelouch tried to remember his brother as he had been before getting so tainted; he could not. But he was sure he had had a pure, soft-hearted sibling, at one point.

Right now, Lelouch would have given anything in this moment to get that brother back. He swallowed. "I'm sorry… for disobeying. It won't happen again."

The boy's smirk widened into a full grin. "It won't; but you're hardly sorry enough yet."

Then the child's tone dropped even further, taking on a distant air. His words were no more than a confusing rant to Lelouch now. "That's the trouble with you _vi_'s isn't it? You think you can just waltz in anywhere and take whatever you fancy without ever having to pay for the consequences? Well, not today."

The blond boy shook himself, long tresses waving around his body; and then shoved the gun forcible into Lelouch's hands. "Go on, take responsibility; get your hands dirty."

And there it was; he was out of options; again. The two girls had finally understood their peril, and started screaming, pulling at the doors and even hitting the reinforced glass. Hand shaking just a little, Lelouch cocked the weapon. The only thing that seemed louder than the girl's voices was his mind racing circles. No matter how many times he ran his options, he saw no way out. But it chafed.

The blonde broke off screams in favor of high-pitched wails and incoherent babbling when he took aim. Neither deserved this. Agreed; they were not the nicest girls he had ever met, and probably pretty stupid for getting drunk and going for a walk with a couple of complete strangers. But they did not deserve this.

In fact, as far as Lelouch was concerned, there was only one person inside the limousine's main compartment that deserved a bullet to the face. Changing directions at the last possible moment, Lelouch shot the little creep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone! For your personal enjoyment, I present the third chapter of FWTO. I'm trying to keep this quick and crisp, so the whole thing should not take over 20 chapters max.**

**Not like Gambit, which got away with me a little; but then there's a lot less fun in this one. So I'm hoping to keep it fast-paced and action packed. But this is a little bit of a sad chapter, so it might not feel too fast. **

**Still, lots of things are tangling up. Yup, we are doing this Houdini style here. When we've successfully tied ourselves up in this ball of yarn, we'll see about getting out with a nice flourish of the hat. No problem, I do this all the time.**

**Oh my, are those real sharks in the water?**

**;)**

**Special thanks to theFinalArbiter for beta-reading.**

**~~-L-~~**

Lelouch felt the need to say a few words, standing over the flowerbeds that had become grave to the two girls. None came, except. "This is _so_ wrong."

Wrong in many ways; did flowers even grow better when potted in blood and chunks of human flesh? He, for one, doubted it; but of course that was hardly the point. Little creatures would likely make their way to this field in the coming nights and remove the more damning piece of evidence of their crime.

But the blood; covering them both and the limousine's insides behind, would be harder to wash out. Never even mind that smell: like sweet, too sweet iron.

Lelouch felt numb; despite his nose and ribs pounding thanks to his little brother's hits. He felt numb and tired but still so very, very angry.

Rolo just shrugged; "We did as our Lord commanded; the mission was a success. What could be wrong with that?"

"Don't call him that!" Lelouch snapped. "You make him sound like some kind of god when you do."

"He is god." The younger brother informed him, with a voice clear of emotion. "He knows everything. His touch brings either power or pain. He does not age. He does not die."

"Of course he can die." Lelouch declared vehemently, balling his fists: blood-soaked and sticky. "That is the prerequisite of all things alive."

His younger brother just shook his head at him; almost pityingly. "You can still claim that? After seeing it for yourself?"

Lelouch scowled, feeling recalcitrant. "If a bullet to the head cannot kill him, it just makes him tenacious. He is just a spoiled, disgusting little child with too much power."

Rolo looked decidedly uncomfortable on account of his elder brother's blasphemous claims. The boy craned his neck, looking around, fearful of having such a conversation overheard. But Lelouch didn't care; he was pretty sure everything he said was recorded somehow. At least that meant he could holler his defiance at them.

_Because Lelouch had known his brother would be at his throat the second he got that shot off; No, it was proof of their bond that he was not dead the next moment he was aware of. Blood was spurting from his nose and a pain in his ribs suggested another hit, but he had no memory of taking them: his brother's Geass had stopped time for him when they happened. _

_Most disconcerting was finding the door's handle to his face and his arm straight behind him, elbow warning that more pressure would seriously damage the joint. To his side, two high female voices were screaming for all their worth. The sounds bouncing off the limo's inside and accumulating in a deafening screech._

_Despite this, Lelouch turned; he grabbed the only thing within his reach, which was Rolo's ankle. The younger brother fell, obviously surprised. Lelouch just turned with it, getting his arm in a position that allowed the elbow to bend; the action freed him enough to locate the gun and make a grab for it. _

_The windows were reinforced; but perhaps a number of bullets at close range could break them. He considered the two women now engrained enough with the desperation of their situation to climb out through a broken window to flee. Lelouch felt they deserved their chance to run. _

_The car had already stopped; probably because of the shot. But it seemed orders had been given to keep the doors locked. The two goons had not even tried to enter back into the limousine's main compartment. _

_But then the voices died down, and Lelouch breath caught as that child's voice he thought he had just rid the world of spoke once more. _

_It spoke steadily, triumphantly. "Agent Rolo; Please return Agent Lelouch's firearm and stand down."_

_Both brothers turned, abject horror painted clearly on their faces. Blood completely darkened the back windshield behind the boy, the smooth texture broken by little chunky bits that were probably left-over parts from his brain. But the child that had just had the insides of his head splattered across the limousine's seating seemed fine now. With an impish smile, the child gestured at the two women. The white of their wide eyes clashed with dark faces covered in his blood._

_That monster wearing a child's face knew it had won. "Lelouch has yet to finish his mission."_

"Sadistic little bastard." The elder brother growled vindictively, eying the flowerbeds with a heavy feeling in his chest.

Rolo, however, seemed to have had enough of his brother's 'blasphemy'. He grabbed the other by the shoulder and turned him roughly, oblivious to the elder's wince. "Why can't you get this into your head? It does not matter if people die: only the Mission matters! When you execute your Mission right, people die; when you do it wrong people die. When you disobey, even more people die.

"And then, when we have outlived our usefulness and are no longer capable of executing Missions to standard, _we die_. Probably at the bottom of some unknown lake with our feet stuck in a slab of concrete."

Lelouch didn't look at the boy; he preferred to look at the flowerbeds instead. Again, he wondered how his brother had managed to get so thoroughly brainwashed by the Order. Perhaps it was the fact that they had gotten hold of him at two years younger. Or perhaps it was only due to Lelouch's contrary nature that he still had not given into these believes that were constantly forced upon him.

But every fiber in his being screamed at Lelouch that they had just committed an atrocity. And he could not imagine that at some level, Rolo did not feel the same.

His younger brother sighed. "Let's just get some water and soap to clean the limo."

Lelouch answered with a shrug, returning to studying his hands: bloodied, weak and powerless; pathetic. But even knowing all that it seemed he was too proud to bend his head a little; not even for his brother's sake.

But what was man if not adaptable?

That little false god had him pegged right, Lelouch conceded. He was indeed the type who would do anything for his little brother. What the child probably didn't see was how little above death he considered this form of existence.

_I promise I'll free you brother: both in body and spirit. _He formed the words clearly, but did not dare speak them. For this was far worse than blasphemy. It was a declaration if a dream.

_You just watch me. I'll free us both._

_**~~-F-~~ 2 months later**_

Sergeant Farray didn't like this new Lelouch at all, the balding officer considered as he leaned back to study the man at attention before him. Lelouch the unmanageable brat, he had understood. Oh, he had never liked the boy much, but he had known what to do with him. On a certain, basic level, Farray had understood that Lelouch.

But the same could not be said for this new Lelouch; no, this creature Sergeant Farray could not understand at all. Oh, the psychological theories added up, of course. Everything this agent Lelouch had done in the last two months added up perfectly: everything since V.V.'s 'little reprimand'.

His every action had been predicted and expected. How did it go again? Denial, rage, desperation, acceptance… If that old Lelouch fitted in with denial, Farray had to admit, the agent's far-fetched escape plans that week after V.V. had dealt with Lelouch's insubordinations had definitely seemed to fit into the desperate category. Plans ranging from hiding in a transport truck to simply stripping bare and jumping into a freezing lake.

And then with little more than a week's passing, the boy moved on to this slack jawed obedience. Everything had gone smoothly since; from basic training to practice missions. And it had been another uncomfortable experience for Farray to realize how much of the boy's potential had been hidden by idleness in the past. Again, the boy would never be strong or long-winded; but he made up a good deal for that with precision and wit. Only his shooting was oddly off sometimes.

In fact, right now it would be a close call which of the 'brothers' would be more deserving of the title 'perfect agent'. The one standing before him now, or Rolo; Farray's personal favorite.

Still, despite such a perfect track-record, Sergeant Farray was apprehensive of this boy. Apprehensive so much that even with the boy wearing his eye patch, Farray felt exposed without his dark eyeglasses. Even now, he kept them close at hand, on his desk; although wearing them inside like this would likely render him close to blind.

The Geass blazing in that hidden left eye was a formidable weapon. Absolute Obedience: if the boy decided to turn on him and ordered Farray to kill himself, security would pick up almost immediately from their hidden cameras and move in to subdue the upstart. But Farray had no illusions about the fact: he would be good and dead by then.

In fact, an action like that would have been more like the desperation Farray had expected of this man. Perhaps it was because he, along with the officers on base – and, by exception, Rolo - was aware of agent Lelouch's true identity. Zero was a revolutionary of the kind that had been quite happy to go down by taking many of his enemies with him.

So no, Farray had yet to see what he thought true desperation would look like. Or perhaps it was his instinct warning him. Every time he looked at Lelouch now, he was reminded of a wolf doing dog-tricks: it sat up and gave its paw, but somewhere Farray was convinced it was just pretending. Waiting for the right unguarded moment to jump and rip its master's arm off.

Then Rolo entered, snapping of a salute together with an apology for arriving late. And the sensation was gone. It did little to comfort Farray, because it only served to strengthen his suspicion. No, he did not understand this Lelouch, but he felt enough to doubt his credibility. Regardless, he could hardly second-guess his superiors on suspicions alone. Farray sighed. "Congratulations, we have a high-profile mission lined up for you two."

The real agent basked in the radiance of that praise. Lelouch however, as had become his habit, made no indication that he had even heard. Farray watched closely for anything in reaction to his next statement though. "Our Lord and Master would even like to brief you himself. Please make your way to his quarters immediately."

There might have been something that time; but it was nothing compared to the younger agent's uncomfortable fidget. Farray sighed again, dismissing the two. He wished his superiors would tell him more. But even if he had all the knowledge in the world, he doubted he would ever feel save leaving this revolutionary out of his sight. He did not understand this Lelouch, and that made Farray afraid.

**~~-R-~~**

Rolo could not deny that his last meeting with the Order's Master caused him some apprehension. But the sensation was by now completely drowned by another: excitement linked with pride. _A real mission!_ Something important that would require real skill. Not this hanging around base, acting like a brother and picking off trash at the side.

"See?" he called to his fake brother that kept abreast with him effortlessly. "All you have to do is obey, and good things will come to us."

The younger agent could hardly contain himself; after eight months of stagnation - the last two spent close to inactive -, he would finally have a chance to prove his worth again. And their Lord was going to brief them himself! It was an honor. Lost in musings, Rolo took a while to notice that the other had slowed his step, falling behind. When the youngster did notice, he almost stumbled.

This was the kind of breach in etiquette Rolo had been waiting on for two months; had expected at every moment. And now, just when he had convinced himself his fake brother had finally given into reason, Lelouch was about to let him down again? It seemed too cruel to Rolo.

Lelouch just tilted his head, ignoring the younger agent's accusing stare: "Little brother, are you happy?"

Rolo scowled at the question; he didn't understand. But at least his fake brother didn't seem to be planning another coupe. "I am… pleased." he conceded, finally.

"Ah." the elder said, gracing whom he held for his younger brother with what had become a rare smile. "That is… good."

There was only a hint of hesitation, and his fake brother was walking again. Rolo didn't miss it, of course. He knew this man too well now. _I'll do this, for you._ That's what it meant.

Rolo scowled at the ground as he joined up. Lately, Lelouch's every action seemed to be all but screaming that at him. And that was how it was supposed to be, of course. That was the whole reason Rolo had been given this mission: to pretend to be this man's little brother. This little brother was the sole reason for such an oppositional creature to fall in line. Rolo should feel happy about executing his mission so well.

Besides, Rolo had no real family. He never had, so any emotional attachment was illusionary. There was no reason to feel guilty. No reason at all.

Reasoning thus, Rolo entered the Master's quarters. The young agent was once again cowed by the sheer brilliance of it. It was hard to consider these chambers were empty almost the entire year. Although these rooms took up a big part of their complex, their boy-god was usually away at a different location. Every one of the Order's basis held an exact replica of these rooms to house their Master V.V., in case his Lordship ever deigned to visit.

Apparently, he deigned to visit their location quite often.

The boy-god greeted them from the center of an all-white hall, arms clasped behind his back. He smiled serenely, and Rolo thought the expression suited him. It allowed a view into the depths behind those knowing eyes: depths to counter the seeming innocence of his small, child-like frame.

Rolo stopped at a venerable distance and saluted proudly, still between pleased and wondered as his brother mimicked him perfectly. This was going to work out; it had to!

"Agent Rolo!" the boy called as his smile opened into a smirk. "Agent Lelouch. So good to see you again! And under such positive circumstances."

Despite excessive training and discipline, Rolo almost groaned. If their Lord was going to resort to goading, he had little doubt his fake brother would cave and attack soon enough. But by some miracle the silence held, and Rolo remembered himself. "Thank you, my Lord." He just hoped their god thought that enough answer for them both.

It seemed it was; the boy brightly conjured up a photo from behind his back. A young woman with stunning gold eyes and long, sleek green hair stared out from the picture. "This is your target. I hope you two are brushed up on your Japanese, because you'll be heading deep into enemy territory for this. I wish for you to kill and retrieve the corps."

Rolo's breath caught in his throat. "Just the two of us? Alone?"

Their god just blinked. "Yes. Is there a problem?"

It was more like a dream come true. But Rolo scolded himself; he had just been to a briefing of his primary mission; the one that made him brother to Lelouch. They had been quite adamant about the need for him keep making reports on his fake elder brother. They had already suggested he could leave them out in camping locations if he was left without contacts for longer periods of time.

These suggestions and others added up now; they would be followed and monitored by a second team from medium range. Still, it was a lot more responsibility than Rolo had held in a long time. "No my Lord; no problem."

"Good" Lord V.V. smiled benevolently, motioning for Rolo to take the picture. He did, but before he had managed to get back to location, their lord called again. "Agent Lelouch, come closer."

Rolo sucked in a breath; _so close._ As he had expected, this was one bridge too far for the other Agent. Incongruently, Rolo felt the need to make excuses for his fake brother; though he knew he could not.

"Why?" the elder brother finally growled.

Amazingly, the Lord of the Order did not mind the question. "The lady in the picture has a particularly nasty Geass that works on touch. I think I shall provide you with some… insulation."

His fake brother didn't seem to think that enough reason. He just stood there, glowering at the small boy, with an expression that suggested bloody murder. Rolo knew that the other face of Lelouch was an illusion, but he had still hoped it would have lasted.

The Lord of the Order was unimpressed. "Would you like to see a demonstration on someone else first?"

But there was no-one here, except the three of them. Rolo found himself checking around the room, before understanding. He was supposed to offer that demonstration. It was a veiled order, but an order none the same. Rolo had no reason to falter, but it appeared he already had.

Before the young agent had managed to shift his weight forward, Lelouch had already moved. He came up to the small god with shoulders set and fists white-knuckled. Still, he sank down to the boy-god's level with little hesitation.

In answer, the child that was not truly a child placed a hand on the kneeling man's forehead and closed his eyes. Then, nothing happened.

Rolo was a well-trained agent; and he knew how to stand at attention for hours on end without moving if the situation required it from him. But right now, he found himself inching closer. He moved to their side, little by little; because Rolo was convinced that, whatever was happening, it was not nothing. He had a clear enough view of his god's face from his original position, but the childlike face gave no indications at all.

Rolo made it far enough to discern that his brother's one free eye was still open, perhaps a little too wide, before the child-god spoke. "I suppose I should have looked closer when I first took him in if I wanted to learn anything useful."

The boy-god opened his eyes to direct that piercing gaze at Rolo. The young agent almost staggered back, expecting more than a reprimand. Instead, the child continued to muse. "Or at least I should have done so before I applied that first layer of insulation. No matter." The boy turned his attention back to the agent before him, placing a second hand on his head. "If I cannot reach his thoughts now, a second layer of protection should certainly render them out of the witch's reach."

The boy-god closed his eyes again, and this time Rolo thought he could almost see the energy traveling from his child-like palms into his brother's head. Lelouch still had not moved. But his breathing sped up, turning uncomfortably loud and fast. It sounded like he was running. Or in pain. Rolo fidgeted.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, their Lord removed his hands and opened his eyes. His expression pleased, then turning somewhat disgusted as he regarded his palms. With something of a dejected sigh, the blonde child used Lelouch's jacket to dry the sweat from his palms. Lelouch's sweat of course: his face was shining with it, hairs sticking to his head. Rolo doubted gods ever sweat.

But his brother - fake brother - still hadn't moved, though his breathing had slowed down somewhat. Catatonia, the young agent realized. He was more than a little worried by now.

"Your turn." His god called. And Rolo realized he was more than worried: he was afraid.

The Lord of the Order laughed at his expression. "Don't worry. Your memories are your own, so I hardly need to bind them in place. I am just going to give you a temporary protection from the witch's touch."

When Rolo still did not move, the boy-god let out an exasperated sigh, stepping forward to grab Rolo's hand. The world fell out around him at the god's touch; replaced by a white purer then the room they stood in could ever have held.

Needless to say, the experience was not pleasant.

**~~-L-~~**

This was good.

Lelouch voiced it out in his head. His first conscience thought in what might have been a long while. His breathing seemed ragged, and his head hurt like his skull should have spit open from the pressure by now. He was on his knees on that white marble floor, his palms spread wide to the calming touch of those cold stone slates.

This was fine.

No; not fine. But it worked to his advantage. Because Rolo had been there to see it; and – oh god!

"Rolo!" he called, turning his head and almost losing his balance for the effort. Lelouch could not find his little brother.

That little child-demon laughed at him. "Back amongst the living, Lelouch? Took you long enough."

Lelouch snarled at his nemesis. "Where is my brother?"

The child laughed again; it was the kind of laugh that would have gotten any other boy beat up right after school was out. "Oh, you're too easy! Calm yourself, he is fine. He is waiting right outside for you."

That was his foremost worry taken care of; but other questions move to replace the first. Lelouch closed his eyes to compose himself. What had just happened? Had this little un-god just invaded his brain? It seemed so…

No! What had been done to him? Had his secret been found out? Would his little plan be undone before he had even started it?

Or could he even trust these thought to be his own? What if even his will had been tampered with? His thoughts? His memories? Had he been a fool to trust those as his own?

He needed confirmation; needed proof that what he had built was still there. He needed to get out of here, and see the shooting wall. The message there would give him confirmation, one way or the other. As long as that had not also been discovered.

The little creep was talking again. "I have given your brother some protection from the witch's touch as well. But it is superficial and will not last as well as yours, so I need you to be the one that closes in on this kill."

It still took Lelouch too long to process that information; and a little too long to replace his first reaction with a more acceptable one. This was not the time to threaten this unholy thing with what would happen if it would touch his little brother again. He gave an affirmative nod instead.

The action seemed to amuse their so-called Lord. "Now, as it seems I will be missing your delicious power for a while, I have one last little task for you before you leave."

If the child was fishing for his curiosity, he would be sourly disappointed.

After a little while, the boy continued without prompt, a little shake of his golden mane the only indication of annoyance. "I'd like the simple weekly information out of this one. But add to it that he will execute commands only coming straight from me."

So this was going to be another leak from the inside. A Geass command to report to the Order on a weekly basis. The added loyalty only to this brat was a bit odd; it was likely that this was an important figure.

The child rang a bell, and two guards entered, dragging a third figure between them: a large, Japanese man in a restraining suit. Despite not even being allowed to walk himself, he held his head proudly. His half-long hair in spikes, dark eyes fixed. He looked like some kind of samurai, despite his cuts and bruises.

Lelouch finally picked himself off the ground and walked over to the three, still a little unsteady. He did not miss the two guards checking their protecting visors when he came close. Their prisoner regarded him with mild interest. "I must warn you." the man intoned, unworriedly; "I would rather die than rat out my fellow warriors."

The child-god's voice was laced with amusement. "General Toudou is about to become my man on the inside. Remember to add something about believing in his escape, agent Lelouch."

The prisoner snorted, disbelieving. Lelouch for his part, had trouble not bursting into hysteric giggles. _Bad news, general: you already missed your chance at suicide_. "Must be nice, on your side of the picket fence."

The general gave him a frown, but Lelouch did not bother explaining. Instead, he pulled his eye patch out of the way, letting the Geass take the man's mind as he intoned a well-practiced mantra. "Prisoner, you will obey these commands; you will become our snitch, our relay of information. But you will not remember doing so…"


	4. Chapter 4

**4th chapter. I had some trouble writing this, but I think it turned out ok in the end. **

**In compared to Gambit, I have to admit; this thing is kind of simple. There are a lot less lines to keep track of. I hope you enjoy reading. R&R!**

**Special thanks to theFinalArbiter for beta-ing as always!**

**~~L~~**

Lelouch and Rolo both went on to retrieve their equipment for the mission straight after that; and received word that they would leave early next morning. The equipment was standard issue, including weapons, survival and surveillance equipment.

The replacement eye patch they got for Lelouch was new, though. When he saw it, the elder brother nearly laughed out loud.

"It's a camera-relay to screen." The grunt in charge of provisioning them explained. "That way, there is no chance of carrying your Geass command out by accident. It has a latch so you can move it aside quickly and use the Geass. It also carries a night-opt and heat vision, and is integrated with our voice/phone earpiece. "

That all sounded high-tech and interesting, but Lelouch translated it easily: if the camera was hooked into the system that monitored their words and actions, that meant the camera would show headquarters what he was looking at as well. And if these people were as paranoid as he thought they were, they would require him to – "you will wear this night and day. You do not take it off, even if you sleep."

Regardless, Lelouch's deadpan expression actually hid a smirk: if they were that desperate for actual camera feed, it seemed save to assume this feed, possibly together with his brother's optical set was all they had. Yes; the Order was about to let its notorious two brothers out on enemy territory, and they were worried the two would cut the lines and make a run for it.

As far as Lelouch was concerned, they were quite right to do so. He just had to make sure he cut _all _the lines. And that he could convince his little brother to run with him.

When they were all packed and ready, and left with the better half of the afternoon to do little more than wait, Lelouch suggested to Rolo they'd go down to the shooting yard for target practice.

As he walked past the stakes with their affixed bull's-eyes, he quietly read the messages he had shot below the targets in a script that combined Kanji with Morse-code: _Fact: tracking device on my body. GPS, live signs. Possibly sound._ That one had cost him several so-called escape attempts and all their repercussions. Most notably, the one where he nearly drowned in a freezing lake. But that incident had made him also added the next note: _Possibly more need to keep me alive then the average agent._

Then came the third note: the one he hated most of all: _Possibility Rolo reporting on me._

And now he set about changing fourth note; although if everything went well, he would never need to return to this place. And so would never need to read these again. But that was how one did these things; Lelouch supposed. Hope for the best, plan for the worst. _Possibility: head messed with._

He changed Possibility to Fact.

Lelouch was still debating if he could say something more about this with certainty, when the overseeing officer noticed his poor aim and decided to chew him out over it.

But it was enough.

**~~S~~**

When Suzaku had sold his former best friend to the Emperor for a promotion, he had been enraged enough to tell himself he didn't care.

When Suzaku received word of Zero's execution a few days later, he had still been of the opinion a quick death had been too good for the man.

But when weeks and finally months passed by that rage had turned into anger, and faded into impotence. Soon enough, even that had been replaced with guilt. What was worse, the position he had achieved with his bargain served little purpose. Japan was now, for the greater part, liberated from Britannia. And though Suzaku could not see it last, the stalemate persisted for the over half a year now.

Not only did he seem to have found himself at the wrong side of this battle; he was not even allowed to participate. Cornelia, put in charge of Britannia's armies once again after Schneizel's return home, seemed unwilling to let Suzaku or his Lancelot help her in any way.

Basically, he had done everything for naught.

And then Schneizel had called to notify him Lelouch was not dead at all; that he had actually joined some secret organization. And that the Knight of Seven would have to expect two guests. And that Suzaku in his Lancelot was actually required to drop these two off.

To say Suzaku's rage had returned twofold would have been a gross understatement.

A day later these two so-called 'Agents' arrived. They looked like a pair of non-descript soldiers with too much gear with them. But they stepped out a bulletproof limousine, not some Jeep or APC.

Yes; Suzaku had waited on them. He had nothing better to do; though the Emperor had allowed him to stay in his own country to help end this war, he had received no briefings allowing him to intervene anywhere.

As for any entertainment on the premises, there was no any. This sole purpose of the entire base was to provide for him; for the Knight of Seven. It was situated on the east coast Kyushu. This was the western most island of Japan, and the only island still in Britannian hands. The base was equipped with basics like a kitchen and a small Knightmare hangar for the Lancelot, but that was all.

Suzaku supposed he could have asked for more and gotten it, but if he couldn't help his country, the knight saw little point in trying to enjoy his stay.

So no, there was nothing for him to do at all. In a way, Suzaku was thankful for this chance to finally at least be able to get to the front.

But not when he saw these two agents get out of that limo. It just provided Suzaku with more cause for anger: they had put the worst criminal of their day in a secret organization that drove around its Agents in limousines.

With a hard stride, he walked up to the pair; the younger, non-descript boy jumping to a salute the moment he spotted a knight making his way up to them. Lelouch, however, stood scowling at him way to long – a dark camera-lens covering his left eye.

When his one-time friend finally fell in, Suzaku could just make out the whisper. "He falls under the Kingdom, brother, not the Order." And Suzaku knew it was a derogatory statement.

But that was a game this knight could play just as well. He got up close into this fake, this murderer's face, and stared. Animosity practically oozed off the Knight, but this Agent Lelouch seemed unable to sense it with that one, dull eye. It was like he didn't even recognize Suzaku.

"Is there a problem, sir?"

Suzaku told himself he could do this thing. He told himself he had already taken his revenge. With grinding teeth and balled fists, he answered: "Yes, there's a problem, Lelouch!"

And that started it; that semi-detached calculation that went on behind an eye that hardly changed expression. Suzaku had seen it many times; it was a skill Lelouch had had as a child, and perfected as Lelouch Lamperouge. And in that moment Suzaku realized, that whatever else this creature might be, Lelouch truly did not recognize him. It was a calming thought.

To the point where he did not feel the need to physically squash the life out of his one-time friend.

"You killed a dear friend of mine." Suzaku finally decided on.

It was apparently an easily accepted fact, for there was a bit of an "Oh." in response; nothing more.

Gone were Suzaku's carefully placed restraints: "Don't you at least want to know her name?"

The knight knew he was slipping. Slipping into a pit of rage and despair that he would easily find his way out of. Find his way by dismembering the man that had taken so much away from him. Taken his chance at peace; at happiness. His one chance at love.

Suzaku stepped back, hoping the distance would cool his temper.

Just then, this fake Agent managed to say the most heartless thing Suzaku had ever heard: "Should I?"

Lelouch even managed a furtive glance at his partner. Suzaku might have cackled at that.

Like a deranged axe murderer.

Just then, the younger Agent stepped into the knight's line of sight, barring him off with an outstretched arm. "Lelouch is an Agent of the Order." The boy, who could hardly be older then sixteen informed him. "Lelouch is my subordinate. Our team takes its Missions directly from the Order. If you have complaints about a Mission, please relay them directly to the Order."

As he was desperately trying to stop himself from killing this Lelouch, Suzaku let himself be distracted by this. "Hang on; they put _a child_ in charge?"

But as Suzaku shifted his attention to the boy's face, he caught a look of the expression Lelouch wore: observed this child-soldier jump to his rescue. The expression seemed to start at mild surprise, but slowly morphed into a lazy smirk. And then a burning rage seized Suzaku, and he knew no more thoughts.

**~S~**

Sometime later, Suzaku was at the Lancelot's controls, with two Agents hunched behind his seat at either side. He imagined it was the Geass curse that forced him to 'live on' that made him able to stay calm and collected with these two at his back. Lelouch's curse was an unholy aberration to be sure, but in a combat situation, this boy Rolo had one of superior usefulness.

"I feel I really should apologize." The boy, Rolo said again.

"It is perfectly alright." Suzaku lied. "I lost my temper, you stopped me. I am the one that should be apologizing."

It had obviously been the boy's Geass power that had allowed him to disappear from where Suzaku had thrown him and reappear at the Knight's side with a knife at his throat. Though how Lelouch had gotten out of the way of a well-aimed kick was still a puzzle.

That was one of those things he would have liked to ask Lelouch about. But it seemed the man that had once been Zero was no longer talking to Suzaku. The knight tried again. "You both surprised me with some _fast reflexes _there, Lelouch."

Through a reflective part of his display, Suzaku thought he saw something of a scowl pass his one-time friend's features. But it was this younger brother that answered, again. "Thank you, sir! We try our best."

Apparently, Lelouch disagreed with that, because he caught his 'brother' on the shoulder and quickly hissed something into his ear. Suzaku sighed; he just wanted this farce to be over now. There was one thing left the knight felt he needed to say though. "Her name was Euphy. She was the kindest and gentlest person I've ever met."

Getting this fake Agent to slip up and talk to him had been Suzaku's goal for a while now. But now that he finally achieved it, he was sorry for it. Lelouch simply dismissed the angel-princess: "Ah that explains it: she was a revolutionary."

Suzaku was certain now: it was the Geass curse 'live on' that made him capable of fighting the urge to release the steering and pound this man's head through a display. Suzaku tried to breathe.

**~~R~~**

Rolo was certain of it by now: apart from his Geass curse, his older brother bore a second curse. Lelouch made people want to destroy him, just by talking. For perhaps the twentieth time, Rolo whispered that same plea into his brother's – fake brother's – ear: _"Please! Just let me do the talking!"_

Which was, as he well knew, like asking a fish to stop swimming. But his brother did try. And Rolo, again, recited his list of apologies and redirections to the proper authorities. Completely ignoring Lelouch's adamant point that as this knight was not part of the Order, he held no authority over either of them. As if that somehow excused being rude to a Knight of Rounds.

It was probably a blessing to them all when they finally reached the allocated drop-off point.

The read-outs on the knight's screens showed there were several snipers hidden in the area. Thankfully, this time the knight actually addressed Rolo when he suggested they'd fall back and ask for a different location.

"I could clear the place of enemies easily. But I still have orders to stay out of the fighting, so I cannot." The Knight of Seven explained.

Well, this brought them to a rather delicate issue, Rolo considered. Technically and practically, Rolo was the one in charge. And that was how it was best; because, obviously, he outstripped his 'elder brother' in all fields and military aspects: all except planning and tactics.

But Rolo's headset was strangely devoid of instructions, and honestly he himself would not know where to start. It was more than a little humiliating, after practically pleading with his brother to shut up, to have to ask: "…Lelouch?"

His brother snorted – which boded little good for his promise to act like a soldier for the duration of the mission. But that was likely because he was thinking; Lelouch always was rudest when he thought. "Getting in safely is easy enough. The Knight takes us in his mech's hand, lands us -here." he indicated a space on the map that was open, but would require the snipers to change positions before they could shoot. "From there, all snipers should be in Rolo's range so he starts with a one second time-freeze for our jump, then the .5/.5 second intervals to get us behind cover. From there we can either move away or mop up the snipers."

It made sense to Rolo; he was about to say that was what they'd do.

But, of course, Lelouch wasn't finished. "The problem lies thereafter. They are putting us in enemy territory in broad daylight, and those shooters are bound to radio us in. that is, if this shiny Knightmare hasn't caught everyone's eye already.

"We'll be running with half an army after us, and need to cross the entire country before we reach our actual target, near Tokyo." The sarcasm seeped back into his brother's voice: "I can only say I would like the shake the hand of the brimming intellect that has hatched this brilliant plan."

"Lelouch!" Rolo hissed, shocked. He could only pray no officers were following their conversations right now on surveillance. But no rebuke came from his headset, so he simply asked: "You're saying cancel?"

It seemed the elder brother was also set on the mission though: "I'm saying _stupid_. But nothing we can't handle. Let's just go."

And so the plan was executed: they strapped on their helmets and made the climb out of the Knightmare's cockpit and into its giant palm at a high altitude. They stood, holding their backpacks in one hand, and using the other to hold a giant finger for balance. Then that great machine touched down to the ground, and they were off.

Here, their combined tactic came into play: this was what made a unit like theirs more effective than a single agent. They made use of a technicality in Rolo's Geass to get around. For Rolo's time-freeze did not really stop time itself; only everyone's perception of it. Gravity still worked, momentum still worked. But all those in Rolo's Geass were unable to sense or react to them.

The tactic took absolute precision and trust: Lelouch jumped down with Rolo, but time would be frozen for him until Rolo released his Geass. If Rolo released too late, his fake brother would simply crash into the ground and break both his legs, unable to adjust for the impact.

As it was, Rolo released a fraction of a second before they hit the ground, and as his brother had expected this, they both dropped to a roll without injury. Then they both pulled their packs to their chests, and proceeded into a Judo-roll in the direction of cover. This time, Rolo activated his Geass at the moment his brother's shoulder hit the ground: that way momentum carried him through a tumble.

Then Rolo disengaged again, when the roll was complete, at the moment Lelouch's feet were under him. His big brother's rolls were sloppy on account of the time-lapses, and he kept tripping over his own feet. But they were jumping to the cover of a small wall in three rolls, and to anyone else it would have seemed the two brothers had phase-shifted across the clearing.

Behind them came the great roaring of engines as the Lancelot took to the skies again, and after a few seconds, predictably, came the sniper's shots from various angles. Their opponents had likely realized the Knightmare was still prevented from entering combat, and so they focused their fire on a more equal opponent.

Or so they thought: they had signed their own death warranty with that.

**~~OC~~**

They were a small force of Japanese freedom fighters, their gear made up of semi-automatics handed out at Black Knight support points, and any clothing they could find not too brightly colored. They had sat up a little camp just a few miles off the front, patiently awaiting any orders by radio.

Excepting the force of the Black Knights, this was what Japan's armies consisted of: of volunteers that were willing to die for this one last chance at freedom.

The dozen of men that made up their unit had spent a little time putting up some basic fortifications, in case any Britannians broke through the front and made it to their location. But foremost, they had expected a call to the front, one of these days.

It was more than a shock when they got an urgent call warning them of the 'White Knight' heading to their location.

All they had time for was sent a warning to the refugees hidden within the ruins of town, and setting themselves up at the safest locations. Not that they would have a chance against any Knightmare, let alone this one. But maybe they could do at least some damage.

It got weird when two enemy soldiers jumped from that Knightmare frame and appeared to phase in-and-out of time as they made it to cover.

**~~R~~**

"Get the rope and pulley out." Lelouch ordered – it was quite annoying, Rolo thought, how he always just took command in a combat situation. "I want the one in the tower."

True enough, the sniper in the tower's position was ideal; he dominated the entire battlefield. If they managed to take him, they would have won the battle. The tower itself was little more than a wooden scaffold about ten meters high with a few a few sandbags at the top for protection. But here, it was like a fortress.

It was all too easy for the brothers; Rolo handed Lelouch the rope, which he tied securely to his own wrist before they both jumped and phase-rolled their way to the bottom of the tower's ladder. There, Lelouch simply held out the rope and his bag, and Rolo froze time again. This time it had to last a bit longer; and with the strain the Geass placed on his heart, climbing up the ladder with two backpacks was not all that easy.

But he managed, and so he stepped gingerly over the enemy sniper; the man had apparently already anticipated someone coming up, because he was staring down the ladder hole with a semi-automatic at his eye. Rolo placed the pulley at the far end of the platform, away from the ladder side.

Then, Rolo jumped with the rope taut; the added weight of the two bags easily making him the heavier of the two and pulling Lelouch up in his place. Half way up, Rolo released his Geass, and before he landed, he saw his brother remove his eye camera.

Rolo activated his Geass one last time, opting to walk to the closest piece of cover, and then waited for his brother. It took only about a minute of real-time before Lelouch came sliding down the ladder fireman style, and jumped down next to him.

"The guy is shooting everything that moves exempting us until nightfall. Then he's killing himself." He informed his younger brother, and then added: "car keys." dangling them from a finger. "This is good, because I think I just sprained both my ankles."


	5. Chapter 5

**Ahh just did part of the end chapter. I think I'm writing this just to get there. Bloodbath! Hehe. Just a bit.**

**Special thanks to theFinalArbiter for beta-ing.**

**Please let me know if you enjoyed. See you all soon!**

**~~-L-~~**

The open-back truck had just enough space in the driver's compartment for the three of them: Rolo at the passenger side, Lelouch squashed in the middle, and an elderly 'soldier' at the wheel.

The driver was quiet, obediently executing his orders thanks to the Geass cast upon him. He would stay that way until Lelouch issued the release code, after which he would forget this entire trip. Lelouch was glad for the silence, for the man had seemed like the chatty geriatric type when the brothers had first managed to spring their trap on him.

It was quite a pleasant coincidence that Rolo looked Japanese enough to fool people at first glance: a little trick like laying down on the wayside pretending to be wounded while his brother tried to sign a passing vehicle worked easy enough.

They had not once had to use Rolo´s time-stop to disarm any less trusting soldiers. Of course, it was hardly fair to judge these miss-matched volunteers by true military standards. It made slipping through easier: because relying on Rolo made the chance of casualties higher. And although Lelouch found he hardly cared about casualties anymore, bodies were notoriously hard to hide: they would have made them a lot easier to track.

The elder brother smiled thinly; he wondered if Rolo even understood what it meant that after eight months of war, these Japanese forces were still not decked out right. And if he was even aware that it was not normal for soldiers to range an age span younger than even them to old enough to be grandfathers and grandmothers.

Or perhaps he and Rolo subconsciously thought it only made sense for a country that had once lost its freedom to Britannia to fight until its last man before giving up on this freedom again.

Lelouch sighed, ordering the man to pull over. At day-time, his headset had remained silent of orders: apparently, the man in charge left it up to Lelouch to find the brothers a way to their target.

Sergeant Farray had been moved to the nightshift, and that meant with a little work they could almost completely sleep through his comments. But it only served as another warning for the elder brother to be careful: if the sergeant was on nightshift, somebody more important was on the dayshift; somebody silent and probably smarter than him, as well.

"Let's change vehicles again." He told Rolo: they did so every few hours. "Do you mind getting the bags from the back?"

The younger brother moved to obey; probably because that was what came naturally to him. Lelouch turned to the driver, making sure he was so close to the man that his camera feed only showed that wrinkled face.

With one hand he nimbly stole the elderly man's phone from his pocket while he issued the release command: "We have reached our destination; return home."

It was an even older model then the first phone he had taken, days ago. But at least it had basic internet and camera functions, so it would do. Lelouch pocketed it without looking, as the elderly man blinked and came to his senses.

**~~-C-~~**

C.C. crossed her legs, taking that black mask off from the table once more to study it. "I appreciate your input, Kallen, but I think it is better to wait here."

"Wait for what? They executed him, C.C.; I…" Kallen sighed again, guilt fleeting her features before she steeled them: Kallen had been Zero's bodyguard; she was the one that should have protected him. Instead, she had run off upon finding out his identity: when she had found the illustrious Zero was just a Britannian kid from her own class.

Which wasn't even the whole truth; but C.C. saw little point in revealing any more. Half of it had been enough: with the illusion of a hero bigger than man destroyed, Kallen had lost her loyalty. But apparently, the ace of Black Knights did still feel some guilt.

C.C. thought Kallen should be feeling guilty; lots. Sometimes, it seemed that to the red ace, Zero had only been a means to an end.

Kallen continued: "Whatever happened, it's over. Move on, C.C.; help us win this war."

But C.C. persisted. "That execution statement was a fraud. I can feel he is alive."

Which was pretty much all she could tell by now. Once, she had known exactly where Lelouch was at all times; could even sense when he was in danger. But by now he seemed more than one world apart from her, and no thoughts or feelings reached her.

Still, she would have known if he had died. Surely, she would have known.

"I will wait here until I find him, Kallen." The eternal girl reaffirmed. "You have no idea what will come for me if I show my face on the front."

So far, V.V.'s Order had kept out of this war; C.C. thought it best if it stayed that way.

Kallen was as overconfident as ever: "We are taking on all of Britannia, C.C.; let them throw at us what they can."

They had many such discussions; in fact, C.C. was convinced it was the only reason the red Ace ever came back to Tokyo. When C.C. was in one of her darker moods, she was convinced the woman just wanted to convince C.C. to take up piloting the Gawain again: so Kallen could have someone good enough to cover her back.

As it stood, the witch was glad to have an excuse of a diversion when an incoming call displayed on her computer. The face on the display was like almost every soldier in their newly appointed Japanese army: a man in civilian clothing, his only distinctions a military cap and an insignia badge in his jacket.

Eight months into the war, and they didn't even have enough to provide for proper clothing. C.C. supposed providing food and arms was more important, but it still boded badly. They were fighting a war while broke; and wars usually only cost money, not make any. The immortal wondered if she was the only one that saw Britannia was only toying with them; without a miracle, they would be doomed eventually. And their miracle worker had been captured by the enemy long ago.

The man on screen excused himself. "You said to call if any soldiers displayed unexplained behavior." He hesitated, watching for her silent prompt. "Does a proven unit killing each other upon contact with the enemy fit into that category?"

C.C. smiled thinly "What was the enemy unit?"

"An odd undercover unit consisting of two men, dropped into the open."

"That seems about right" C.C. admitted, watching Kallen's features shift from relieved back to an angry scowl. "Can you keep track of them?"

The officer looked worried. "They are already missing, and if we relocate any more resources, we will risk breaking the front lines."

"Then don't bother. I know where they are going." C.C. decided, then added as an afterthought: "how many visors do we have in stock?"

The man on screen gave a shrug "Not enough for all the volunteers, but that's about the entire Japanese population, so we're keeping them reserved for the Black Knights. Why?"

"Distribute them to everyone in the area towards Tokyo; make sure they understand to wear the protection at all times. These men are extremely dangerous, boya." with that, she turned off the monitor.

"If that man changed sides on us, I swear I'll kill him myself." Kallen proclaimed, too quickly. The half-Japanese seemed to think everything could be solved with quick violence. Especially inner emotional turmoil. _Silly girl. _

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." The witch said soothingly. They could wait; her warlock would come to her, after all.

**~~-L-~~**

After passing a second roadblock using the Geass of Obedience, the two brothers set up a little camp inside an abandoned shed. The young woman they had Geassed into driving them there would spent the entire night on guard at the only exit.

After they released her, she might wonder what she had done the last 24 hours to get so exhausted, but Lelouch doubted it was anything to raise alarm over.

When they had both been lying in their sleeping bags for quite a while, and Lelouch was sure his brother was asleep, he pushed the camera eye deep into his pillow and quietly got out the looted phone. He worked slowly, putting more attention to keeping his heart rate down than to getting onto the right hyperlink to watch the movies the first phone had been sending since last night.

It was important to know if the Order had sent a team to keep track of them, but it was even more important not to raise suspicion. Well, not to raise suspicion beyond the usual amount, at least. So Lelouch watched the movies fast-forward lazily, as there was hardly even a rat that disturbed that well-hidden camp site.

Only when he got to the footage little more than an hour old, did finally people appear at the old site. Lelouch grimaced; it was hardly a surprise. In fact, he figured he should see the up-side to this: he doubted that team could have brought anything faster than a truck as they would need to avoid suspicion just like them. That meant that if the brothers did pull something, they would have about a 24 hour head start.

Getting away with that much time should be easy. Providing he could manage to disable all surveillance and tracking and, of course, convince Rolo. The elder brother was running through scenario's to get his hands on a metal detector as he watched the footage uninterested. But then suddenly his heart skipped: one of the men at their old camp moved with certainty, digging behind a pair of cans they had left there. From under them came several pages of paper, in clean, clear writing.

Lelouch immediately recognized the pages as from Rolo's diary. Suddenly, it made sense why the boy was so methodical in keeping one, and why he never let his brother read it!

It was getting hard to breathe. With too much force, Lelouch shoved the phone back into his pocket, and sat up, peeling off the top of the sleeping bag in an attempt to cool off.

It really shouldn't have surprised him. Lelouch _knew_ his little brother was the Order's good little pet. Had he not, long ago, pointed out to himself that it was possible – no, likely – that the boy would choose the Order above his big brother?

But to suspect was an entirely different thing than witnessing the act of betrayal with his own eyes. Rolo might as well have stuck a knife into his brother's gut and twisted it; such an act would seem painless and quick by comparison.

It was not a good time for Sergeant Farray to want to chat. "Well, well..." A dark chuckle came from his ear piece. "Had a little nightmare, boy?"

Lelouch didn't even try to reign in his temper; instead, he pulled the system from his face and flung it at the far wall as hard as he could. Then he turned away, lay back down, and hoped they didn't have any hearing devices close enough to hear him cry.

**~~-R-~~**

When Rolo woke the next morning, a new voice on his headset quietly introduced himself as Lieutenant Samwell. The voice went on to explain that his brother had conducted himself strangely last night, and though they had not seen the need to wake him, they would like him to keep an extra sharp eye out on the man for now. Samwell even felt the need to ask Rolo to keep his headset close, so they could wake him if there was an emergency, next time…

Rolo always kept a sharp eye out. And thought he could hardly mouth off his superiors, he had half a mind to explain to this man he knew quite well what was wrong with his brother. Lelouch looked tired and bleary eyed. He didn't, as was his habit, take charge of their situation. He didn't plan their travel for today, he didn't think of any clever ways to circumvent the next control post.

And when Rolo finally realized he had to take care of breakfast, and shoved a plate of food into his brother's hands, the man only stared down at it dejectedly and hardly picked at it before putting it down to claim he wasn't hungry today.

Lelouch was, quite obviously, sick.

Rolo couldn't help but cast some of the blame for that on the Order. Making his poor brother sleep with a headset on; it was no wonder he wasn't getting any sleep. And Lelouch had never been the fittest of men in the first place. The younger brother perfectly understood the need his brother had felt to chuck the thing across the room. This was not to say it wasn't wrong; but Rolo understood. So much so, that both brothers had to suppress a grimace when they retrieved the set and found it in perfect working order, if a little scratched.

The Lieutenant in his ear –privately, for apparently he did not want Lelouch to hear – all but ordered Rolo to keep them moving. But with Lelouch offering no input, the momentum was completely out of their run: the next control point sported light armed vehicles and all patrols wore those visors that seemed popular with the Black Knights.

Rolo could easily take a guard point, but as his brother had repeatedly pointed out in the past, killing now would draw so much unwarranted attention that even they would find themselves in trouble. The younger brother would at least try and devise a tactic that would not draw any unwarranted attention.

So in the end, they stayed inside the shed most of the day, Rolo only going out to secure a quick meal. The younger agent could only hope his brother would feel better by morning; but he had little faith. So Rolo made a promise to himself: he would drag this fake-brother with him and take care of him, until he pulled himself together.


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, I did say I'd put up a faster scedual if I got a lot of reviews.. and 5 I consider quite a few, so here's another one!**

**Moar coming soon!**

**Special thanks again to theFinalArbiter. you know why~!**

**~~-L-~~**

For days, Lelouch allowed his little brother and so-called partner pull him across Japan. It had become a bloody business, for Lelouch could hardly bring himself to lift a finger. And Rolo's way of doing things meant, for all others involved, a quick death.

Lelouch was distantly aware that all these bodies were like a beacon to the Japanese defending armies; that soon, they would start taking them as a real threat and put a real force on their trail. That all the work he was letting his little brother do would take a heavy strain on his heart.

And at the same time, he hardly cared. Maybe at some level, he was waiting for the boy's heart to give out. For, every time Rolo tried to make light conversation, and every time he tried to coax his big brother into eating something, Lelouch had visions of putting his hand around the boy's neck.

And squeeze.

It was ridiculous; Lelouch was well aware. Because in a physical confrontation the older brother knew he had less than no chance at all. No, if he wanted to win, he should just use his Geass on his brother and order him to obey and trust only Lelouch.

It was not like he was taking anything away from the boy. Rolo obviously didn't have an ounce of free will left, if he was willing to betray his only brother for the Order. _And then what?_ A more methodical part of his brain asked. The bloodthirsty beast answered_: finish this stupid mission, get retrieved, go home, and Kill As Many Of The Order As You Can._

The thought made his mouth water; more than any food did these days. But the sane voice reasoned again: even between the two of them, Lelouch and Rolo would do the Order little more damage than what their Lord would consider a minor inconvenience before they were stopped. And even as desperate as he was now, the thought of surviving the act and then held accountable for treason against the Order... Let's just say Lelouch knew these people well enough to _not_ want to know what they could do to him.

So all Lelouch did was let himself be dragged into another abandoned apartment store for the night, not even protesting when Rolo again allocated the whole night's watch to himself. He just lay back, watching the ceiling overhead and wondered mutely if his little brother even realized that despite all his good intentions, neither of them would get much sleep tonight. But he really didn't even care.

Farray made some attempt at agitating him with random insults, most centering around the Lelouch's obvious weak nature. But Lelouch didn't care about that either, so it did little for him.

Until a sudden, out of place, sound snapped him back into reality: apparently, Farray's cussing had made him the perfect lullaby, because Lelouch had fallen asleep tonight after all.

For a moment, the elder brother wondered dimly why he had awoken then, to the complete dark, with this urgent feeling in his tummy. Then a force grabbed his feet and started dragging him across the hardboard floor. His head bounced painfully, and he tried to grab onto something to stop, but just as he found a hand-hold, a second person came down to straddle his chest. There was a cynical corner of his mind that laughed at the Sergeant's voice when the man took this moment to call the alarm: apparently, the two agents were discovered and under attack.

_Lelouch never would have guessed._ Then all amusement with the situation was gone, as something much harder than a fist connected to his face. He felt the eye camera cut deep into his face, cold first before searing to pain. Then a second blow to his head completely dislodged the device, freeing his Geass eye.

But it was useless; it was too dark to see.

Blindly, he grabbed out and found what could only be a hand holding a brick. Then he snatched the knife from his belt – thankful now that he had been too uncaring even to strip before getting into his sleeping bag.

Bringing it in low from the side, the knife slid in with little resistance, and out again. There was a high-pitched gasp, and Lelouch could easily pull the rather small figure off of him to attack his next assailant. This meant broad sweeps aimed at the hands holding his feet still in that sleeping bag for now.

His assailant seemed to have wised up, for he released Lelouch's feet, which allowed the Agent to scramble free and to his feet. Now, he could finally make out a dark shadow against the slightly lighter walls. But Lelouch still could not make out the eyes. On the floor lay the figure he had stabbed. A somewhat slighter form wheezing in agony, crumpled over its side.

The standing figure murmured a prayer as Lelouch crouched down in a fighting position behind his knife, and he knew it was the red blazing eye that scared the man. The figure had little to worry about on that front, though; for he was probably the first Japanese soldier Lelouch had seen in full gear: complete with helmet and eye shield.

Right now, the light from his eye was just another disadvantage, because it served to illuminate Lelouch, and not his attacker.

From the floor, he could just make out Farray's voice from the headpiece. The camera was likely busted, but it seemed the audio was sadly still functional. Curse war-time technology. The man seemed to waver between demanding status reports and voicing general threats. One accusation did hurt: "You better not be running!"

The shadow-man seemed to get his own weapon from his belt, and Lelouch figured his chances were better now, so he launched forward. One hand to fend off any weapon the man might have drawn, the other aiming his knife for the man's throat.

He didn't get it in: the man brought in his own free hand to hold his wrist, diverting his initial thrust. Lelouch tried to change directions again and push the knife in from the side, but the man was strong.

They stood interlocked a moment: both grappling the other's hand. Then the man slowly won out, his hand inching up from his belt with whatever weapon he had taken from it. The young agent's answer was one born of panic: he released the bigger man's now-armed hand and used both hands to drive his dagger home. Amazingly, it worked.

They both went down into a tumble at the man's last desperate breaths, air wheezing out of his windpipe as warm liquid rained from a gaping hole. On the man's third, spastic attempt at breathing, Lelouch finally got enough control over his own limbs to take the man's weapon; it was a baton of all things.

Quickly, Lelouch rifled the man for something better and finally found a gun. With that, he got unsteadily to his feet and moved towards the sound of the still-screaming sergeant.

It really was too bad the thing was still operational. At least partially, Lelouch considered, watching the display turned his way that only showed snow. But Rolo was under attack as well, and if the damn device ever served a purpose…

The plan was only half-formed when Lelouch picked up the brick instead and smashed the headset with it.

**~~-R-~~**

Rolo had taken up a vantage point overlooking the only entrance to the building, safely a floor up. His brother safely tucked away in the most secluded back of that same first floor, Rolo had felt relatively secure in this location.

Perhaps that was why he had allowed his eyes to droop shut just a moment, seated cross-legged on the floor.

Or perhaps he really had been on the border of complete exhaustion.

All Rolo knew for sure was that he awoke to the sensation of fear, and only his combat reflexes saved him from a direct blow to the head. As he moved his head to the side at the last possible moment, it was the young Agent's collar bone that took a bone-shattering hit.

Only then did Rolo manage to stop time: he spent almost a minute in pure agony, trying to take in that there were no more than the three assailants in front of him. Then, instead of trying to get up, Rolo opted to cut inside his first attacker's thigh with his kife, using his still operational left hand awkwardly: cutting in between protective clothing to sever the artery.

Then, as the blood started spurting, Rolo started time up and waiting for the other two: a young boy and girl. They both went for their guns now and so Rolo had to stop time again. The effort was almost beyond him, and the semi-automatic he had dropped would do him little good now. Clumsily, he managed to get his own hand-gun out, the holster at the wrong side. He then fired a poorly aimed bout of shots at the male.

Only when Rolo was relatively sure the hits he got in where enough to kill the boy, did he turn back to the girl. And yet the strain was too much: he could feel himself falling, and the impact of hitting the floor with a broken shoulder was enough to both drive the gun and the Geass from his grasp.

Time had not stopped back at monitoring, and their sergeant had by now realized that something was wrong. Instead of asking how Rolo was faring, however, Farray demanded he finish up quickly and capture _his brother_. "He's moving. Get a hold of that cutthroat quickly, Agent!"

Rolo, however, was too far out to do anything. Through half-lidded eyes, he watched the girl he had not managed to kill start moving again. She fired a shot at the empty air, before realizing her target had moved and fallen to the floor. Amazingly, she held off on shooting now, even as her partner crumpled to the ground.

The girl seemed to doubt a moment, then holstered her gun again, in favor of a long baton. Dread filled Rolo; was she going to beat him to death? Farray did not seem to register his prized agent was in trouble. "Rolo, stop messing about and secure our troublemaker."

But the younger Agent could only hope; believe. "Brother won't leave me." He whispered, as the girl came closer. In a last, poor attempt, Rolo froze time in a small little bubble around them, freezing only the girl as he tried to roll off his good arm far enough to pick up his gun. It was pathetic: the back of his fingers grazed the weapon, but he lacked the strength to make it any further.

Then, a single shot rang out, and Rolo released his bubble, too exhausted to even care. The girl collapsed, narrowly missing Rolo. He was dimly aware of his big brother's presence. The elder agent dropped to his knees next to him, gingerly feeling and talking; trying to make his little brother answer.

Rolo's last thought before he passed out was that he had been right. Brother would not leave him.

**~~-L-~~**

Lelouch pulled his brother's headphone from his head and placed it on his own. It was imperative, essential, to assure command he was not running. Rolo's unconscious form groaned as he picked the slighter boy up in his arms, and the elder brother could not suppress his wince. Was he being selfish? No, surely, Rolo would want the same, once he knew how to want anything for himself again.

"Agent Lelouch reporting." He droned tonelessly, ignoring the angry sergeant's accusation. "Rolo is wounded. I am taking him to the field hospital we passed this morning."

Thankfully, the voice stopped, taking in the new data. The man's voice actually sounded relieved, or maybe shocked. Lelouch was out of the building with his brother in his arms before the Farray had formulated a response. "Negative, hold position until we can send backup."

Lelouch would do no such thing: his brother really did need medical assistance, right away.

Also, this was the best chance he would ever get.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello all! Sorry about the wait. I've been busy fixing up Gambit. Getting rid of some of the whining. Getting back to normal schedule now, one chapter for Gambit, and one for FW every week. Don't forget to complain if you're not happy about this :p or say hi if you are. I don't like getting lonely!**

**0000~L~0000 **

By the time the man secretly in charge their mission came on the line and asked – actually asked! – Lelouch to _kindly_ comply with Sergeant Farray's earlier order, he was already committed: "Sorry sir;" he answered this Lieutenant Samwell, while trying to keep the glee from his voice. "But I've Geassed this driver to take us to the hospital and forget about the whole trip afterwards."

Samwell let out a slow sigh, not losing his temper in the slightest. Lelouch mentally noted to himself again to be weary of this man. "Very well, Agent, I understand. I am not saying we are pleased, but we will work this out. Get the medical treatment required and stand by for further orders on location."

Lelouch grinned, then looked back at his unconscious brother in the back seat to smooth out is tone. "Yes, sir!"

Within the hour, he was walking into the hospital's reception hall with his brother in his arms. He kept his Geass-eye firmly shut, which was easy enough with the swelling of the injury his camera had caused. Hopefully, it had bled out enough for his features to be obscured to the extent that he was not too plainly Britannian. Honestly though, Lelouch was quite willing to Geass everyone inside the hospital if he needed to.

Luckily, that was not required: a single doctor standing out in the hall came right at him with concern on his face. He motioned for a nurse on administrative duties for aid, and they were helping him without even asking for their names before Lelouch could even wonder about this. And when they asked him what had happened, Lelouch could only thank his perfect Japanese as he strung lie and truth together. They were attacked; No, he did not know by whom. No, it did not appear to be a Britannian strike-force that had blindsided the army and had made it deep into enemy territory.

The hospital staff believed every word; or at least took them at face-value. It was refreshing, though Lelouch had to wonder at a system that just allowed whoever to seek out medical treatment if they deemed it necessary. It seemed a massive cash-drain to him.

Soon, Lelouch found himself placing his little brother on an X-ray table. The doctor had required little manipulation before suggesting a full-body X-ray, in order to take full stock of Rolo's injuries. Then the doctor led Lelouch to an adjunct control room, where he pushed some levers and turned dials, until Rolo's form through the Plexiglas was bathed in a flash of light. After a few moments of waiting, an X-ray picture rolled out of a machine.

"Well, there only seems to be one break, in the collar bone." The doctor pointed out, after some study. Lelouch came to look over the photo as well, trying not to seem overly interested in any anomalies the photo might show. He could find none; and the same seemed true for the doctor: "I am a little worried about the condition of his heart; all symptoms suggest a minor stroke. But after listening on the scope, I can only conclude the organ itself is sound. Perhaps a form of exhaustion?"

Lelouch did not have to fake guilt in his voice. "That's my fault. I let him…"

The doctor just smiled. "We'll take your brother to surgery right away. For the shoulder; the heart will just have to rest. Meanwhile, please go see my colleague down the hall for that eye of yours." The man smiled at Lelouch's confusion, misunderstanding him. "We are a little understaffed, so you will have to find the place yourself."

Lelouch could hardly believe his luck; as soon as the doctor had taken his brother from the room, he started going through cupboards and cabinets. Soon, he had collected an empty plastic cup, a UV drip containing some clear liquid, and medical tape. It was all he needed. He had been after his own medical records for a long time, but the doctors from the Order jealously guarded those documents. Out here, no one seemed to have any such concerns.

Quickly, he went back to the X-ray control room, setting the dials just so, and then taping his plastic cup to the activation button. Then, he taped the UV drip and started it so it would fill up the cup.

When he was done with his work, he returned to the X-ray room, and lay down on the table himself. It took about a minute before the flash went off, and after that, he had to wait a few more before the photo was processed. The X-ray was exactly like Rolo's; except Rolo's had the break in the collarbone. And, Lelouch's had a white little blob on the side of his neck. The agent smiled grimly at it, finding a little bulge corresponding to the picture's location after a little searching.

Then he spent another minute examining Rolo's picture for a similar blob, and then his photo for more of them; nothing. After convincing himself there was only one bug between them, the elder brother made his way to the suggested doctor for some stitches around his eye.

Calm; collected. As if the loophole for escape was not closing rapidly with every passing minute. He did have to Geass the doctor that stitched him up, after the man had demanded to check the pupil for damages. And due to commanding the man to treat his injury as any other, he found he needed to sit through getting his head bandaged against his wishes. But it was a minor inconvenience.

When that was done, he asked around and found Rolo in the rehabilitation wing. The younger brother's chest and shoulder were bandaged, an open patient's gown thrown over the injury. He was still unconscious, but apparently that was due to anesthetics, and not his condition.

After checking they had removed all Rolo's original clothes and equipment, Lelouch invaded another patient's closet and secured a pair of pants and shirt. Then, finally, he found an empty examination room.

The first thing he did after securing the door was again put on Rolo's headset. As expected, Farray had somehow secured the audio line for himself during the time he had been off-line. The sergeant's voice was filled with malice as he confided in Lelouch: "I just want you to know, you are not fooling anyone."

As the agent started rummaging through the cabinets, a thought occurred to him: there could be a measure of satisfaction gained here. "I am not sure what you mean, sir."

-"You can pretend all you want, but I'm well aware you are purposefully deviating from orders. And I'll make sure everyone here will understand that."

Lelouch could just about see the self-satisfied smirk that accompanied those words; he paused his searching to hold a small surgical knife up to the light. It seemed clean enough, and would definitely be less messy then a combat knife. "Sir, I assure you I have done all I can."

"Oh, come now. I think you can do better than this, do you not? Here's a suggestion: why don't you stop pretending and _run_?"

After grabbing a clean towel he quickly stripped, and carefully checked himself over. It was a shame to have to leave his knife and gun, but he didn't want to take any chances. "Why would I do that sir?"

The sergeant seemed sure of his case: "Because when I get you back here, I'll make sure you soon won't even understand the meaning of the word escape. There are ways for that, you know. Here's an idea: shock therapy."

After finishing buckling his pants and throwing on the oversized shirt, Lelouch walked into the mirror and smiled grimly.

"Does that idea scare you, Agent?"

There seemed little reason at pretense now: "Can't you tell from my heartbeat rate?"

The sergeant chuckled darkly: "So how long have you known we could read that out? Another point against you, Agent Lelouch."

"I suppose you're right." Lelouch admitted easily, trying for measured breaths as he brought the slim blade to his own neck. _Just a little cut…_ "Even I can't really believe you've let me this far out of your sight."

The blade was sharp, and cut easily enough. He cut quickly, feeling metal scrape on metal under his skin. "So I guess I'll take your… suggestion."

There was a pause from the other side of the line. "…Agent Lelouch?"

If cutting himself was bad, putting two fingers into the wound was pure agony. But with the side of the small blade, the metal snitch popped out easily.

Again, sergeant Farray called, panic creeping into that hated voice. "Agent Lelouch, report. What's happe-"

_Goodbye, Farray_. Lelouch mentally greeted as the headphones joined the snitch on the floor._ I hope you'll be at least partially held responsible for the debacle I am about to cause._

With a bloody towel pressed to his neck, Lelouch went for the door as he pulled at the bandages that covered his left eye. The first nurse – a skinny male that looked at him worriedly – that he ran into became his target. "Do you have a car here?"

"Of course." the man replied hesitantly. "But if there is an emergency, we still have a running ambulance."

Unconcerned, Lelouch freed his Geass eye. "You will execute all my orders until I say you are free to go. Help me get my brother into your car."

As the three left the hospital, there was only one thing left to do. With the most harmless face he could muster, considering a bandaged eye and a bleeding neck, Lelouch walked up to the reception desk.

"Excuse me." He asked the lone lady behind the desk. "I was just wondering until when you shift lasted."

He fidgeted with the bandage. "And if I could have your phone number..."

**0000~C~0000**

C.C. had been lounging through the meeting with complete disinterest: Tohdoh, who had only returned to them from captivity a few days ago, was trying his best to put his old strategies in play again. Though the man was definitely the more apt of the holy swords, his niche had been filled in his absence, and some of the Black Knights were reluctant to resign their duties back to him.

Annoyed, she sighed: if it was not for the peer pressure that had been used to get all Black Knights to participate in this meeting, she would have likely found a way around attending.

Then, it happened.

Something… something. C.C. stood: "Something's changed."

The heated argument that had been going on quieted. It was a rare thing C.C. said anything at all; especially during meetings. All eyes turned to her expectantly. "Changed? Good or bad?"

"I don't know yet." The witch admitted, a little reluctantly. But then she was out of the room. She had to go there; find him. "Kallen, will you join me please?"

The ace Knightmare pilot jumped up out of her stupor. "Sorry about that." She called behind her, looking eager as she followed C.C. out the door. "I was _really_ enjoying our discussion. But this must be important…"

C.C. blinked at nothing. The girl really was a dreadful liar; but at least they both knew not to snore during those meetings.


	8. Chapter 8

**Dear Readers, I realize this chapter has little to no action; I am sorry about that. But I felt that it was necessary. Please don't burn me at the stake for doing what is necessary.**

**Or, well. You can try: on paper. As far as I know, that can't even give me a paper cut. So have fun trying! ;)**

**Also, I'd like to take this moment to ask any of my readers if any would like to beta this story. I have theFinalArbiter doing it usually, but he seems real busy lately. also, having 2 people improving on it would be very welcome. I estamate there will be about 15-20 chapters in total, so it should not be taking up that much time any more. please pm me if you are interested!**

**~~-S-~~**

Schneizel put a hand to his forehead, and thought of three different poets that had described this feeling of… impotence best – two Germans and an Italian. Only after this did he trust himself to smile at the view screen once again: "Don't be like that, my dear Suzaku. We're friends, are we not? Was it not _my company_ that took you in, when you were down on your luck?"

"While I am grateful to you and your people for having had faith in a lowly Eleven back then." the Knight of seven replied with a deadpan expression that suggested he was nothing of the sort. "I am now in _his Majesty's_ service. As such, I am not at liberty to discuss any of this with you."

"And I am his Majesty's son. At least tell me, you _have_ seen my little brother, right?"

The knight of seven just blinked; but Schneizel knew enough about people to extrapolate an answer from that: "how is he doing? Is he alright? Nunnally has been worried sick over him." Schneizel was getting there, he could see: the man's resolve was faltering: "Is it true that he has some kind of occult power?"

He had pushed too hard. Suzaku's expression darkened: "I suggest you put these questions before your father, the Emperor, Prime Minister." And with that, the Knight of Seven cut their connection.

The room was plunged into darkness: quiet and private. And Schneizel rubbed at his temples, letting his façade of smiles and good manners fall in this private sanctuary. Frustration bubbled up again. "Don't you think I have?" he asked the dark screen, his tone condescending.

But his father only ever smiled mysteriously at his questions, and kept him close, in Pendragon, doing nothing, or next to nothing. There was only one thing the Emperor had ever confided about the matter of Lelouch – and only after Schneizel had had enough of court manners and very nearly thrown a scene. (How Schneizel had survived that event was still a bit of a puzzle even to him.) Was that, if he ever found himself in danger, he should just go hide behind Nunnally.

_Behind a blind, cripple girl_. Was that his father's idea of humor? Was the emperor suggesting Schneizel was asking questions because he was afraid of his little brother? The suggestion was beyond ridiculous. There was a mystery here, waiting to be solved. Begging to be solved; but no-one would pet him. How it chafed.

**~~-R-~~**

Rolo's 'mother' placed the plate onto his lap, looking very pleased with herself. Indeed, the plate's contents were more alike a work of art then the usual bland fare the boy-agent was used to. The woman's voice was crisp but affectionate: "As this is the celebratory dinner of getting two of our boys back from the front alive, we can hardly have this party without you. We'll all be eating up here, with you."

Rolo had woken up to a dream.

Feeling more than a little uncomfortable, Rolo prodded himself up further on his Japanese floor bed. As this consisted of little more than a blanked on tatami tiles, they had elevated his back using pillows and blankets. From the other side of the low dinner table Lelouch and his 'father' had brought up to his room, his brother was giving him the most innocent smile imaginable. And that really was something, considering his face looked like someone had tried and only barely failed to mummify him. Father and mother took their respective places on the table's sides, kneeling down and picking up their chopsticks.

Rolo was well aware that this dream was a lie.

Their 'father' picked up his bowl and chopsticks, trying to look stern. But somehow Rolo suspected he had tears in his eyes. Geassed into believing he had three sons instead of one, having two come home alive from the war must have been a joyous occasion. The man cleared his throat: "Mother is right, of course. Though I imagine you both must be aching to be back in the action, you should both take this chance to enjoy yourselves."

Rolo was well aware this dream could not last.

"Oh,_ I_ will. I'm just happy they let me leave my post with just this little shrapnel damage." Lelouch chimed in happily, indicating his bandaged eye and neck. "Rolo is the dutiful one. If he hadn't passed out I'm not even sure I could have dragged him away!"

The knowledge that this dream could not - would not – last, hurt!

All three chuckled at that, and Rolo tried to join them. Luckily, his broken collar bone gave him a good enough excuse: he winced instead. Then they settled to a quiet, but pleasant dinner. That warm, wanted feeling creeping in on Rolo made him want to glare at his brother accusingly. But he refused to give into the temptatio.

_Lelouch really was cruel. _

Because even if they had been put on stand-by until further notice, Rolo well recognized his brother's hand in these arrangements. Was this what the man's false memories told him their lives together had been like before they had been orphaned? Or had this been the live of Lelouch Lamperouche before he had turned Zero? Rolo did not know such details, but the picture that was presented to him now had been little more than a childhood dream to him for as long as he remembered.

_This had to stop._

Rolo told him that, their first night in that out-of-way farm, after their mother had tucked them in and lingered until farther had come up and shooed her out. Apparently, only males were sensitive to the fact that both fake sons had long out-grown the age for such administrations. Although Lelouch had sat through what should have been an embarrassing experience with good grace and perhaps even a little amusement at his little brother's discomfort.

_It was ridiculous._

His older brother did not seem to agree. "Like mother said, enjoy it while it lasts, Rolo. It's not like you can do much of anything anyway with that shoulder. Relax; let me take care of us for a while, won't you? You know the Order will find a way reach us when they feel they have need of us."

_And let them know they completely out of line, no doubt._

That was another problem; Lelouch had effectively lost them all means of communicating with the Order. Apparently, he had taken little thought over their communication devices when he had taken Rolo to hospital. There would probably be hell to pay for that.

_When they had to go back._

And so Rolo spent the next days trying to win back his mobility and proof them all wrong. By the third day he was moving through the house, his arm in a sling. By the fourth he was helping mother take care of the lighter tasks around the house. By the fifth he offered his brother to accompany him for an evening walk. Oddly, he was refused. His brother actually seemed to think he was pushing himself too hard. Rolo doubted his superiors would agree on this; no, he was quite convinced they would feel the opposite. And they would let their displeasure show.

_If they ever had to go back._

**0000~L~0000**

The elder couple lived on a rural little farm, out of the way of the bustle of the cities even back when those cities had been teeming with life. As it was, with every able body fighting at the warfront, it was an eerie quiet place. Just like the preceding days, the sun set in silence, the piece only the occasional broken by a restless bird. And, of course, by the lone silhouette that sat on a small bench out in the field, a phone to his ear. Papers and pen in his lap.

Dialing another number, Lelouch asked his next Geassed informant for information. Jotting down the supplied info on a piece of paper in his lap, slowly a mental picture was forming. And it was not favorable.

He had already known there was a team following them; but Lelouch had suspected it to be a small unit, at worst comprised of a pair of Geass Agents like them.

It seemed he had been wrong; point was indeed taken by a pair of Agents. And Lelouch had already deduced that one of them had a Geass that enabled him to track people. All evidence indicated that he could literally see a person's movement's trough time. But as it was dependant on vision, he had serious trouble following an individual in a vehicle, or individuals disguising their features.

Lelouch's strategy in dealing with them involved having some Geassed citizens that looked roughly like him bandage their face and travel the country in a vehicle with a mannequin representing Rolo under a blanket in the back seat.

The stratagem had the pair fooled well enough; until they reached a stop, and could tell from up close that the citizen and his cargo were not the two brothers they had been looking for.

Behind the agents however, less mobile and less conspicuous, was a somewhat larger force. They traveled with several military trucks and probably had a dozen soldiers between them. On those trucks, Lelouch had already discovered at least two Knightmares, a small aircraft, and a round man-size container he had not a clue what it could be for. The aircraft Lelouch could understand, but what was all that equipment for if all they needed to do was bring a dead body home?

Still, finding out that much had already cost him a handful of Geassed Japanese natives, as this unit was jealously guarding its cargo and quite willing to kill. Lelouch didn't much like throwing these people's lives away casually, because although Britannia preached these Numbers were little more than animal savages, he was starting to like these savages. They were both hospitably friendly and willing to fight for their freedom, which put them a few notches higher on Lelouch's personal evolutionary ladder then most of his own countrymen.

So he had decided that was enough. The pair of Geass Agents would merit further investigation, as he still did not know the second Agent's power, and it was likely one that aided combat. He would need to figure that one out too, before he could remove the threat they posed. Still, Lelouch had little doubt he could deal with them before him and Rolo were found.

What worried Lelouch most thought, was that, although the pair of Geass Agents obviously did not know where exactly the two brothers had gone, they had struck out in the right direction immediately. His contact at the hospital's reception had proven that much: for the pair had come to ask their room numbers before getting a call right then and there, and had hurried off. They had hurried off after them in the right direction with little difficulty.

Lelouch had taken pains to ensure they would be impossible to follow. And although the Agent's Geass would make it possible to find them eventually, it did not explain how they had known right away what direction to head.

It seemed more likely one of the brothers still carried some form of GPS. Not a very precise one, as the area that was getting searched for them was large, but still. It was too much of a coincidence. Was it possible that there was such a device that would not show up on X-ray? Lelouch couldn't imagine it.

But then how were they tracked? Was there position already compromised? Would they have to leave this cozy family they had made their own? Lelouch hoped not; apart from the fact they were well taken care of here, this set up was perfect for placating Rolo. Sure, his brother might be uncomfortable in this ensemble, but that was just because he didn't know how to react to getting everything he ever wanted.

Rolo would, given enough time, forsake the Order for this life. He would come around. It would take an awful lot of lies and manipulation from the elder brother, but Lelouch was finding he was quite comfortable with that.

It would be an entirely different matter if they needed to go on the run from the order. Rolo might be easily manipulated, but he was not totally stupid: sooner or later, he would realize his big brother had no intention of returning to the Order. Even if they stayed here, Rolo would eventually realize this too, of course. But by then he would have taken to this new life Lelouch offered. No, it was essential to keep Rolo here for now, engrossed in this happy little dream.

Perhaps one day, somewhere in the future, when his little brother had fully embraced what he offered, perhaps that day, Lelouch could tell the whole truth. And perhaps on that day he could trust his little brother at his back as he took bloody vengeance on the Order. And maybe even on the Order's Master.

But that day was far, far removed for now; little more than a dream. One as likely to be obtained as Rolo's had been, only a few days ago. Not that Lelouch thought that would stop him. He would just have to be patient.

And Concise; Lelouch dialed his next number, and called the key phrases that activated the Geass on his contact, then quietly listened at the woman's report as he took notes and tried to fill in the blanks in his picture.

The woman droned on, not really giving any information of interest, until: "A new group came passing by today, heading your way. They were black knights. Two women, travelling in custom Knighmares. One tall, redhead, and one short, green haired girl. Also -"

Lelouch hung up, already on his way to the house. Green hair? That seemed like too much of a coincidence. Had the order of the Black Knights their own way to track the brothers? If so, why had they waited until now to trap them? Whatever the circumstances, this emergency even outweighed the need to stay here.

A million plans shot through Lelouch's head, almost every of them discarded within seconds. The last, best option came to mind: he would get one of his Geass contacts to impersonate a Geass agent over the phone, and relay them orders to move immediately.

It was not the best plan; in fact, it would have been a million times better if he could have one impersonate Farray or even Samwell. But they were all Japanese; the accent alone would give them away.

He found he was already sprinting through the overgrown back yard when suddenly he noticed the sounds of engines overhead.

That more than anything settled things: he would have to go with the truth; their position had been compromised. Lelouch just needed to get his brother out before he saw just who was compromising their position.


	9. Chapter 9

**Pretty happy with this one. Got some nice patterns and rhythm going on. But still need someone to help beta. Any other comments and view are also appreciated. I will always try and get back to you ;)**

**~~-L-~~**

Rolo was more than willing to follow Lelouch out to the cover of the back yard; but when there, he revealed the damage had already been done: the younger brother had gotten a clear view of the woman with green hair. And indeed, she _was_ the one they were supposed to be targeting. "It's _her_, Lelouch. And she is practically alone. It's just two women and right now, vulnerably far away from those custom Knightmares they arrived in. We have to do it; this is the best opportunity we can ever hope for. Give me one good reason why not to."

Within a blink of an eye, Lelouch thought of three:

First and foremost, the moment they killed this woman, they had effectively lost their reason for staying in Japan. No, once they had secured the woman's body, they were pretty much committed to taking it back to the Order. That was the last thing Lelouch wanted.

Not that he could bring this up as a point to Rolo.

Second, there was the fact that this pair had made an obvious b-line for their location. They had been too successful in finding them too quickly. Much more successful then the men from the Order; and that meant they knew things that Lelouch did not, which made them dangerous. But revealing this would eventually again point to Lelouch's lies.

So this was out too.

The third point was that both he and Rolo were unarmed.

That was the argument Lelouch presented.

In answer, Rolo just grinned, pulling out a kitchen knife he must have pocketed before Lelouch had gone up to get him. "We both have Geass, and we can safely assume this other woman does not."

"But they are both wearing visors. My Geass will be of little use until they're off, and you can hardly move." It was a last, desperate plea.

Rolo, sadly, was already committed: "They are not even carrying guns. If you prefer I can do this on my own; I'm well enough to stop time for a good twenty seconds, and that is all the time I need to stroll over and cut their throats."

After all the trouble Lelouch had gone through to safe his little brother, he was not about to let him get killed right now. "Fine; but we'll do it my way."

Perhaps after they'd dispatched the green-haired lady, if Lelouch could just procrastinate long enough, he could still find a way to stop Rolo from reporting in. The elder brother pulled off the bandage he kept over his Geass eye. "We'll hide on opposite side of the house, and you stay in the bushes. Give me one second of time freezes from the moment I whistle."

**~~-K-~~**

When Kallen had first heard proof that her leader, Zero – Lelouch - Was not dead, she had quickly stomped down on that little bubble of giddy hope. She told herself that he had likely been a traitor before; and was definitely one now. Hell, the simple fact of him being _alive_ proved as much.

Then, when C.C. had asked her to go find him with her, she had again stomped down that happy feeling. Even when C.C. had quite vehemently made a case that her classmate was not willingly betraying her and the Black Knights. Whether or not by choice, Lelouch was obviously fighting for the wrong side: for the Britannian side! Apparently he was some secret agent assassin as well.

Finally, while talking to this elderly couple, who had apparently been Geassed into believing Lelouch was their son, Kallen had crushed that feeling again; certain, entirely. Kallen had been briefed to the fact this Lelouch was not like the one she had know; that likely he did not even remember being Zero. But now she found he was hiding here; with these people. It just made it worse; did it not? He was a traitor, a deserter, and a coward.

So Kallen told herself she should not feel any remorse for her ill-thought-out flight at Kanime Island. She should be _happy_ to be rid of him –of this lair, of her Zero. And no, she should not be wishing for his return. Yes; that is how a grown-up; how a true Japanese warrioress should feel. And so Kallen sniffed out that traitorous warm feeling for once and for all, and believed it gone forever.

Until it returned, ten-fold, when they stepped out of that quaint little farm, and he popped out of the ground next to her. It was like Kami himself had returned him to her side; because that was where he belonged. Surely; certainly. That was what he was doing: coming back to his Red Ace. His queen. Surely.

And then his hand shot up further, and cut across her neck, ear to ear, in what should have been her end.

It would have been her end, if he had had a knife in his hand. As indeed, he expected to have in his hand; his confused expression at finding his hand empty told her that much. Then his gaze travelled on to C.C..

C.C.: who had just disappeared from where she had been, right outside the door. C.C.: who suddenly _did_ carry a knife and was making her way towards some bushes, from which a very confused young man had half-emerged.

Another blink, and the boy and C.C. both had moved, a little to the side. The boy started babbling incoherently then, and Lelouch looked a little pale as well. In fact it seemed only Kallen could deal well enough with this situation to return to action.

She grabbed for her purse knife and went on the attack, planning to put Lelouch at knife-point. He had hardly ever been a match in close-combat, after all.

Surprisingly enough, he who had not even had the reflexes to deal with a well-aimed volleyball in the past, was now well able to block her knife-thrust: as she tackled one shoulder with her off-hand and brought her knife up to his throat, his arm grabbed for her wrist and deftly pushed the thrust away.

Now, had this been any other man – or at least any other man a good few inches taller than her – Kallen would have instinctively reverted to a water style of attack; to move with his power and use his own force against him to turn it into a different, redirected attack. But as this was Lelouch –weak, unable Lelouch! – She stubbornly pushed back; completely certain she could overpower him.

They grappled, turned and tumbled. And triumphantly, Kallen managed to turn and straddle him in what she was sure was the more advantageous position. But still, their hands were interlocked. Worse, Lelouch hardly acknowledged her effort; instead, his eyes were on C.C. and the boy: "Rolo! Scramble!" He barked, looking close to panicked. But still not due to Kallen's knife, which was not getting any closer to his throat. "Geass and retreat. Don't…"

A quick glance towards C.C. and the boy showed the reason of Lelouch's worry: The boy was on his knees, eyes wide in sheer terror. Kallen was certain C.C. had touched him, and that usually caused catatonia. Although this one was still babbling - usually C.C.'s victims were not even able to babble. And the look on his face, still focused on C.C. – instead of looking through her - was one of fearful worship, not complete oblivion.

C.C. looked down at the boy in what seemed her usual manner; although Kallen though she just might see some sadness there now too. Then, she casually took the unused knife by the blade and used the handle to club the boy over the head. The boy went down in an unconscious heap.

And Lelouch snarled; pushed her back. Suddenly, Kallen was on the defense, using all of her impressive strength just to keep this man down. Well, using simple power was the stupid way anyhow. She turned and twisted the knife, going for a cut in his arm that would make Lelouch understand he was better off admitting defeat.

The move went smoothly, biting into his forearm easily. Too easily, she realized as the arm she cut just moved up and up, the hand grabbing her visor and pulling it away. Leaving her eyes unprotected as she stared into that Geass eye and heard him say: "Please kill yourself."

Kallen was mutely aware that he pushed her aside, that he took her knife from her. But none of that mattered now, because she was about to kill herself. The Geass had to be obeyed. She knew that. Kallen was going to die; no: she was about to kill herself.

_Please kill yourself._

Yes, she had expected deceit, treachery. She had expected to be played with, again. And then at the end, thrown away like a worn-out toy. Because she knew, it had only ever been a game to him: their little revolution. He just played with their lives, like only a Britannian could. She had steeled her heart to that, fearing it - expecting it. Still…

_Please kill yourself? _

One year had passed. One year of fighting and searching and not giving in to despair. Although that was always so, so tempting. One year of staying brave and strong and unbroken. Because that was what she had promised to be. What she had promised _Zero_ to be: a warrior; and ace. Someone everyone could look up to. One year. Alone. And the first thing he said when they finally got him back was:

_**Please kill yourself?!**_

But she was not: she was not killing herself. That, in itself, could only mean one thing; Lelouch had already cast his Geass upon her once before, in the past. Thus, she was not immune to its effect. He had already manipulated her with that unholy curse, and now, unaware, he had tried to kill her with it. Kallen slowly stood, cold hungry rage building up inside.

She was just in time to see Lelouch backing up, back her way. "Oh...No." he stumbled "you're like _him_."

A bloody knife was stuck in C.C.'s chest, but the witch did not even seem to notice. Cold, golden eyes looked at the man sadly for a moment, then turned and scouted around. "Kallen, get in your Guren quickly. I expect there will be more combatants coming."

Kallen nodded mutely; then rubbed at her face. _Why the fuck was she crying?_ Fight; that was better. Yes. She was going to get into her Guren and crush anything and everything that came her way. Kallen could deal with that. And maybe after that she'd feel ready to tell this sick bastard _he_ should go _please kill himself_.

His cold, disheartened laughter froze her on the spot. "Of course. We're the bait. We are just the stupid, fucking bait."

C.C. took a step closer, stretching out a hand. Her eyes had that longing far-away look again: the one Kallen didn't really understand. The witch looked pretty freaky though; with that knife stuck in her chest. Maybe that is why, for a moment, she thought Lelouch would turn around and run. He didn't though: "Don't worry about our backup. It's not coming. I cut the line."

His laughter turned into a worrying giggling sound: "Bait's off the hook and swimming with the sharks."


	10. Chapter 10

**Yes, I am in a hurry :p! But you guys don't mind frequent updates, do you?**

**Enjoy!**

**-~C~-**

The witch sighed, looking at the pair before her with more sadness then she had felt in a lifetime. More sadness then C.C. had though an old witch like her capable off. Travelling back to Tokyo had taken little over an hour, as C.C. had no longer had to scout around and feel for Lelouch's presence. And now, they had found themselves an office space that would do for an interrogation room. The boy-agent that had accompanied Lelouch had been dropped off in a cell, still unconscious. And, at first glance, one would think everything was working out fine.

Kallen had recaptured that angry determination she relied on to make it through her day, glowering at the man they had 'rescued' across the table. She was probably still upset over the attempt on her life. But it was an active, _we-are-finally-getting-somewhere_ kind of anger. There seemed a good chance though, a very good chance, that Kallen's hopes would be dashed before the day was though. As much as everything looked to be working out, they were not. Not working out at all.

C.C. crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall, and remembered again her failed attempt:

Her warlock was coming straight for her, the knife he had taken from Kallen extended. But C.C. had unworriedly spread her arms: "Welcome back." She intoned as the knife was plunged into her chest. And then, she closed her lips on his. And all his memories that had been locked away surfaced: everything his father had locked away and overwritten with false memories brought back to the surface, brought back to life.

But not quite: it was like someone had put up a wall of clouded glass between them and the memories. C.C. could see them, as she was sure Lelouch could. She could see blurry outlines, she could hear muffled voices. And yet, all of it was _useless_ like this. Not even she, who actually _remembered_ some of these occurrences could do more than half-recognize the moments. These memories; these clouds of images would mean _nothing_ to Lelouch.

But when C.C opened her eyes, she suddenly realized it _did_ mean something to him. Something cold and ugly and completely different then she had meant to show. But it meant something nonetheless: He was backing up; stumbling with abject horror in his eyes. – He, who usually hid even a soft emotion like worry with fake smiles and jeers: "_You're like him."_

Again, she looked over the man she had chosen little over a year ago; chosen to eventually take her place as an immortal. He'd changed: a little broader, a little more muscular, somewhat worse for wear. But the biggest change was in the eyes. Well, one eye, as they had thought it prudent to bandage up the Geass eye again. No matter how quiet Lelouch had become on their way back, the fact remained he had attacked them. And it would have been rather burdensome if every person they had ran into from their walk to the Knightmare hanger to this room had attacked them on his orders. He had needed bandaging anyway; his arm was still bleeding through even with all wrappings. _Calm; wait..._

Not that he seemed to notice. He was too busy glowering at everything in his way, at C.C. in particular: like he wished he would make everything and everyone just die with a look. That was the change that worried the witch: Lelouch had always hated a lot about the world, for sure. But he had loved things about it too. That was one of the reasons she had thought he could take her place: for all the destruction he had wrought, she had believed not even several centuries of life would drive him mad enough to want to destroy the world. To want to _kill everything in sight._

As it turned out, under the right circumstances, only a year was enough. _When the NotGod was gone._

C.C. sighed again; she had failed. Worse; she had only given Lelouch more reason to distrust her. And he obviously did: Kallen's threatening posture was all but ignored, his one-eyed gaze returning to the witch time and time again. The look he gave her she had seen so, so many times before. A look she had never expected to see on his face; the look she had found on the faces of peasants and farmers, just before they organized a witch hunt. _Because he knew she was dangerous. Too dangerous to tackle alone. But the other one… _

Well, it could be worse, she supposed. At least she could sense something from Lelouch now. And at least he was being cooperative. _Cooperative and meek and quiet. Just wait; patience. Because however that red-head had staved off his Geass, she was obviously not a …NOTGOD, for she still had the scratches and bruises from their fight and the NOTGOD never bruised. So, the redhead girl could die. And the chain on the cuffs they put on him was the perfect size for reaching around and strangling the life out of her. So there was no reason to panic. He could use her as a hostage, if this female NOTGOD cared enough about her for that to work. They seemed close. But why would a NOTGOD care about a human? Don't panic; it has to work._

_Oh boy; _C.C. lurched off her perch from the wall at that, leaning over the small table and deliberately putting her between Kallen and her warlock. "Okay, let's calm down. We're not here to hurt you, Lelouch."

The boy she thought she knew smoothed his face out further; perhaps his expression had given him away. _Hurt?_ Who was she kidding? If anyone going to get _hurt,_ it would be _them_…. 

_Smile._

Kallen looked to and from them both: "Am I missing something here?" then she jumped on to the point that really bothered her. "You Geassed me to kill myself!"

That rather fake smile was replaced by cool calculation: "I'm more interested to hear how you could ignore such an order."

C.C. would have snorted: "that's easy enough to answer. As you've already figured out she is not immortal, there can be only one answer: you have already used your one command on her."

_So how did they know he only got one command? For that matter, how did these …people know about his Geass at all? _As for already using it: "I think I would have remembered."

"hmm." C.C. commented. "It is as you've deduced; your memories have been altered. It happened about a year ago."

_How did she…?_ Suddenly, the creature she had mistaken for Lelouch was on his feet, towering over her. Hands pressed down on the table he leaned towards her, bringing his face close. But, very deliberately, not touching: "_Get. Out. Of. My. Head._" Get. Out.

GETOUTOFMYHEAD. GETOUTOFMYHEAD. GETOUTOFMYHEAD. GETOUTOFMYHEAD. GETOUTOFMYHEAD. GETOUTOFMYHEAD. GETOUTOFMYHEAD. 

_Burn the witch._ C.C. almost laughed out loud. Or cried; neither seemed appropriate though: "Calm down will you? It's not that simple."

Kallen cleared her throat: "_Am_ I missing something?"

C.C. ignored her: "You must have noticed, Lelouch. That you were different from the other agents? Less trusted? That is not just because they feared you regaining your memories. It is because you were the only one there that did not get his power from V.V.; Lelouch, you got your Geass from me, and thus we are connected."

C.C. could feel his mind going into overdrive; weighing every word for lies, truth and the implications. Confusion and distrust seemed to rule supreme, and the witch could not help but Charles and V.V. had in part done this to get back at her; get back at her from abandoning their dream. if they had, there vengeance must have tasted sweet right now: through the centuries, the witch had thought herself hardened by life. She thought she had gone numb to the pain of deceit and mistrust. Perhaps she had been wrong, for having the one person she had thought she could trust look at her like this rang a dissonant cord within her very soul.

"V.V.?" he finally asked.

"Yes, V.V.. Charles vi Britannia's elder brother. A little boy, about this tall? Blonde long hair, immortal. Annoying personality. Likes to go by Lord and Master of the Order these days."

"He is not a God!" then, he added almost as an afterthought: "And neither are you."

Kallen fidgeted, and C.C. would have liked to do the same. "I never said I was. Look, we can just argue about this until the end of time, or you can allow me to enter your mind and return your memories to you. It might be a little painful, but…"

Zero had always had a dangerous laugh. Some had said it sounded mad. Those that did had been wrong; _this _was what a mad laugh sounded like. "Let me get this straight: you want to invade my mind and tear open some cesspit of buried memories? But you need my permission to do it? That is awesome. Amazing! Let me think on this for a moment." Her ex-accomplice actually blinked and looked away in mock-contemplation. "Uhm. No. No fucking way in a million years."

"You're being irrational."

He just shrugged. "I want to talk to my brother."

"You don't have a brother."Kallen pointed out, helpfully. It was a good thing too. C.C. was beginning to see anything she said would be cast aside as lies and manipulations. "You have a little sister: Nunnally. She was crippled eight years ago. Don't you remember?"

"It gets better!" Lelouch intoned with a tone that suggested the opposite. "My own true memories - for which's return I only have to consent in having my mind raped - will show me that indeed, I do not even have a brother. But he, as strong an individual as I know, will be replaced by some crippled girl. A crippled little sister who – let me spell it out for you – Britannian etiquette would have me quietly do away with before she becomes a burden to the Empire."

This time C.C. did let out an exasperated chuckle. "I'm sorry, Kallen, I was wrong. It seems Zero really is dead."

Had she been anyone else, C.C. would have flinched from the way he openly measured her words.

Kallen sputtered in confusion. "But he's right here!"

"I mean."C.C. allowed her voice to rise in exasperation. "I mean, your Black King is dead. I mean they took the piece and recast it as this unruly and _useless _white peon." She hesitated. "I mean no offence Lelouch."

"No offence taken." He assured her, smiling like some one-eyed shark. "I've made it my mission in life to be as unruly and useless as humanly possible."

It was a lost cause. As such, C.C. felt she might as well try one last, desperate gamble: "You know, I am _really_ not like V.V.; and I'll prove it to you." She got little more than a doubtful stare for that claim; still she plowed on. "I'll make you a deal. I'm going to go outside. All you have to do is talk to Kallen here. After that, if you still want to you can go pick up your fake brother and leave."

This is where Kallen disagreed: "Now just a moment…"

"Does it matter, Kallen? He is not Zero anymore, and as they are enemies of Britannia, Japan could at least offer a pair of boys a safe hiding place."

"But you can find me anytime you want. You just said so." His tone was only challenging, but Lelouch's mind was screaming double-cross scenarios at her.

C.C. opted for blunt honesty: "I could, but I have no reason to. You are no good to me like this. So I'll just pretend I don't feel where you are and what you are thinking, and we can both continue on with our lives without a care."

He blinked once. "But, the – V.V. -, he will track Rolo like you tracked me. The Order will just send out more men to recover us."

"True." C.C. admitted with a small shake of her green mane. "But as long as your are hiding in Japan they can only send small groups, and I doubt V.V. himself would be willing to make the journey, so you might be able to cope. Then again, if the Order is willing to step out in the open over this and _truly_ help Britannia, I expect the country to be overrun within weeks. But as of right now, this is no longer my problem."

With that, C.C. threw one last look within her warlock – just to make sure Kallen would survive the discussion, and left the room in a hurry. She doubted anyone had noticed, but for her it was the equivalent of storming out.

**~~-L-~~**

The door closed, leaving Lelouch alone with the glowering red-head. And the boy Agent had to admit it was a pleasant thought that he was no longer in the presence of a supernatural being. It was calming; made thinking easier. Or at least less threatening as he felt less need to second-guess any thought he had on getting overhead.

He couldn't trust a word the _NotGod_ said. Lelouch knew that. But some things just added up so perfectly… like how the Order still had been able to track them, even thought he had been sure he had removed all GPS from their persons. If there was a connection between Lelouch and this… female NotGod, then that meant there was just such a connection between Rolo and _the NotGod brat_.

All other truths or lies had to take a shelve spot as Lelouch examined the repercussions of this. Escaping the Order; successfully falling off of their radar –at least, together with Rolo – had with that become an unattainable pipe-dream. Oh, Lelouch supposed the female NotGod would have had a point that the brother's could have fought off any attempts the Order made together. But, of course, Lelouch knew he could hardly count on his little brother in that regard.

So, that was it, wasn't it? Promising to release them was just a little trick; an illusion, or maybe a hint to show that, no matter if he and Rolo managed to escape this place, they would only to trading one jailor for another. Ah, this was just this green-haired NotGod's way to show him the way to despair.

Heh. For someone that supposedly could read his mind, she obviously didn't know him that well. Just because the situation looked hopeless didn't mean it was. It was all a question of eliminating threats in the right order. And though right now he was unsure how to rate a lot of the threats, the first order or business remained Rolo: "I really need to see my brother before he wakes up." Lelouch tried again. It was an honest truth: there was no telling what his little brother would do if he woke up, alone, and captured by the enemy. Oddly, standard protocol upon capture eluded Lelouch, but he suspected he might well be without a brother if Rolo felt he had to act on such protocols.

The girl was giving him an angry scowl, but Lelouch suspected it was just to cover up another emotion. Fear, if she actually had half a brain cell in that pretty head. "Lelouch, your brother is a fake."

"No, I am, apparently. But as I said, I don't care. Now, just tell me what you want." _So I can make sure you won't be getting it._ But he still had the prudency not to voice that part.

The girl sighed. "I guess I only want two things. Firstly, I'd like to know what the Geass order was you originally placed on me. Secondly…" And she fished something out of her jacket. A black disk a little bigger then her hand; she banged it on the table between them. "Secondly, I want Zero back."

He eyed that weird mask for a moment, but didn't bother to reach out for it. "The first is a question I have no answer to. As for your second... demand. Was he not executed? Unless he is also a…" _IndistructableBratNotGod_ _but definitely NOT ME_. "An immortal, I doubt that's possible."

The girl continued her glower, suggesting with a look, things he did not even want to contemplate. "Alright." She said at long last. "Fine. Then I want you to help us win the war."

His snort was actually a disguised laugh: "well, that's giving me an awful lot of credit. But what makes you believe I would be willing to help? As far as I'm concerned, you Japanese and the Britannias can tear each other to pieces until there isn't anyone left. Not to mention I'm smart enough to know there isn't much to win in a war between g-… immortals."

The girl called Kallen blinked at him, confused. "What do you mean…?"

"Your leader, that green-haired _witch_." His subconscious supplied the word. "-is immortal. And so is the leader of the Order, which is obviously affiliated with Britannia. Thus, this is a war between immortals, and the rest of us will simply be used as convenient meat-shields or handy playing pieces to throw at each other."

This time Kallen snorted: "Oh, please. C.C. is hardly our leader. She is… an ally."

If this girl was lying, she was more proficient at it then Lelouch, which was a little hard to believe. Still, this was the umpteenth time today Lelouch had his view of the world demolished before his very eyes. "Then who _is _in charge?"

Kallen shrugged. "In _Zero's_ absence… Oghi and Tohdoh I suppose. But us other original Black Knights get a strong say as well."

Those two names were famous enough for even Lelouch to know them. Of course, the second rang alarm bells Lelouch had not even known to think about before. "Tohdoh has escaped his imprisonment and is once again leading the Black Knights." It was not a question; it was a statement. _Just perfect_; of course, Lelouch already knew that the two _NotGods_ of the world had it in for him personally, so why should he be surprised? "Does Tohdoh know I am here?"

Thankfully, Kallen seemed to think nothing of why their leader would care about a few prisoners. "Probably not yet, but he knows we left to look for someone so he's bound to find out soon."

It was like trying to navigate across a busy interstate freeway during rush-hour, blindfolded: Lelouch had thought he had made it to the other side. Apparently, he had only made it to a strip of grass in between lanes. But he knew it was there: that open field of freedom just beyond his senses. Lelouch put his elbows to the table and grabbed the hair on his temples with both hands. He tried to see the way towards that freedom in his mind's eye; to simply calculate a way out with raw brainpower.

Finally, he let out a long-drawn sigh: "Fine, I'll help. But you have to get that witch to do something for me. Also, I'll throw in a spy for you; to sweeten the deal, so to speak."

"A spy? We have a security leak?" the girl seemed appalled; like it was beyond the realm of possibilities anyone would betray them. "Who?"

Lelouch chuckled a dry laugh: "Let's keep that a surprise for now."


	11. Chapter 11

**It is official! Rolo is the most fucked up character I have ever written POV from. Haha. And that's saying a lot, no?**

**~~-R-~~**

Rolo awoke with a sense of dread. The cool dank cell that was the stage to his awakening did little to alleviate his fear. Soft female voices argued right outside of his door, probably discussing how to interrogate him. He was a prisoner; obviously, a captive of war. Rolo knew what that meant, and for someone as himself suicide was a simple as turning on his Geass and not turning it off again. Easily done, no messy poisons or tools required.

But at the same time, he felt torn. Did he not at least have to obligation to find out what had become of his brother? Rolo reasoned that even the Order could not disagree there, as keeping an eye on Lelouch had always been the primary mission. And as his brother did not have the luxury to opt out himself, Rolo could at least cut his throat for him. Yes; Rolo felt he owed the man that much.

"Just try, C.C.." Rolo could make out one of the two voices; she sounded exasperated but businesslike at the same time.

The second voice just sounded bored: "hmmm…won't even ask me himself though."

But then the door opened, and Rolo recognized the source of that second voice as the woman with green hair. The woman that was not affected by his Geass. The woman that had taken his killing blows with little more than an annoyed grunt. The woman that had touched him, and whose touch had left him bereft or reason. In short, a woman just like his Lord and Master. Thus, a woman that was _not_ a woman, but a _Goddess_.

All thoughts of suicide and such foolish procrastinations were forgotten and Rolo did what he had thought to put off until the afterlife: drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness. There was a silly, rebellious voice back in his mind that reasoned that it was _unfair _of God to ask a simple man to know and do His biddings, when it turned out the will of God was not just one Divine Child's, but a Divine Woman's as well. He quenched it, opting for the face of God in front of him instead of one far, far away.

An emotion passed through those golden orbs, and Rolo was about to lose his precarious hold on sanity over its implications when the Goddess did something beyond his expectations: She dropped down next to him, on that dirty dusty floor. And then she took his head into her hands and pressed it against her chest. "There, there." She said in a tone that was cool, but thankfully free of wrath. "You did only what you could, after all. And I am happy."

Rolo tried to still his breathing as this amazing, _kind_ Goddess started stroking his hair. "You did well, and I am happy. I should be thanking you…"

**~~-L-~~**

Lelouch stifled a sigh as he walked into the planning room. It looked like some kind of classroom, two men –one of which Lelouch instantly recognized as Tohdoh – where at the head of the room, discussing in front of a large view screen. The Agent did not know why they wanted him there, beyond perhaps the fact that the dumb Japanese girl had convinced herself that he was Zero incarnate and his presence alone would somehow assure them of a winning strategy. At least Kallen had agreed to put that silly mask away. At least she promised him she and the immortal were the only ones privy to their crazy Lelouch-is –Zero theory. Lelouch shuddered: as if he didn't have enough troubles without considering such. No; that had better just be a lie thought of by that immortal witch. That was it: a lie to throw him off balance. _Wasn't going to work._

Lelouch personally would have preferred delaying meeting with these people until the latest possible moment; meeting with Tohdoh in particular of course. Still, it seemed a small price to pay for the freedom to go where he pleased anywhere within the base. – Not to mention, they had promised to take Rolo there too, as soon as the notgod girl was done with him.

This was, as it appeared, some time before the Kallen had thought to release Lelouch. He stifled another sigh, finding his baby brother already in the room. Standing to the side, way in the back at rapt attention like he was about to be debriefed back at the Order, one arm bandaged to his chest to protect his broken bones notwithstanding. Well, Lelouch considered, throwing the witch an only slightly accusing stare as she lounged back in a chair close to Rolo, it was the best he could expect under the circumstances.

Any outcome with Rolo not dead was probably the best he could expect under the circumstances.

Still, that didn't mean he had to look pleased about it. With deliberate sloth, Lelouch walked over to his brother and took up a lazy perch against the wall, as farthest away from the witch-notgod as possible. The two men at the front of the table discussing tactics with the help of a large view screen paused only a second in their debate to watch him. The second next to Tohdoh he identified after a moment as Oughi. Some of the men and women at the little student-tables turned their heads with curious stares, the Kallen girl in particular. But he ignored them, finding a scratch on the floor to scuff his foot over as soon as the 'teachers' continued their debate. And also to hiss a few words to his brother in the useless hope to get him to relax.

The debate centered around the possibilities of their main army getting attacked from behind during their next battle. As soon as Lelouch got a good look at their map however, he let out a derisive snort. Considering the lay of the land, it was a pointless discussion. "I imagine the Britannian troops at home would be happy to hear that out here, too, stupidity is a prerequisite for becoming a commanding officer." He whispered to Rolo.

A little too loudly it seemed. The whole room went dead quiet, and all eyes turned to him.

"Brother…" Rolo groaned, but the elder brother hardly registered it.

A guy with reddish brown hair and a goatee all but jumped up out of his seat. "Boy, we're allowing you in here because Kallen and _'the mistress'_ vouched for you, but you'd better respect you betters or you I'll be coming for you!"

Lelouch watched un-amused as the burly Japanese flexed a biceps at him. Then decided he had taken more than enough crap for one lifetime already. He pushed off his perch and took a few menacing steps closer. "I am sorry. I didn't know just being _old_ made them better than me."

The japanese was out of his desk and putting his face way too close to Lelouch's face in a second. Shouting out generic taunts like "want to go right now?" and "you born a hundred years to early to…"

Under his bandage, Lelouch's Geass eye ached to do something nasty to this upstart. But this was not the time; not with a notgod-witch watching.

"It is okay, Tamaki. I'd like to hear what the _Uragirimono_ has to say." It was general Tohdoh that had spoken.

_Uragirimono._ Lelouch translated it easily: _turncoat, or:_ "Traitor? Is that what you are going to call me?"

The older man's eyebrows furrowed, but his face was smooth: "Do you object to the characterization?"

"Oh no. Not at all." Lelouch bared his teeth at the man, moving around this unimportant Tamaki. "I think it's _funny;_ especially coming from _you_."

The general shook his head. "You'll have to excuse me. I am an... old-fashioned man. Even with all the atrocities committed in Britannia's name, I could not imagine betraying my country, had I been a Britannian by birth."

"Ah, that's okay. Maybe you will understand. One day."

The general looked dubious at that, but continued without missing a beat. "So tell me then, Kallen tells me you used to be in her class. She says you're smart and very knowledgeable on strategies."

That caught him off guard a bit. Questioningly, he looked over toward the girl, but she was suddenly very busy examining a spot on her desk. Her ears were beet red though; likely due to getting caught on a fib. "She does tell the most _amazing_ stories, does she not?"

No one even seemed to even pick up on the fact Lelouch was suggesting the girl was anything but truthful though. "Were you a commanding officer, in your origination?"

Oh, right: experience. "No. not really."

Now Tohdoh did throw him a pejorative glare: "But then you were least in charge of your unit?"

Of course, Lelouch knew he was making a mistake before he uttered the words; his brother's eyes were pricking his back in warning so strong he almost turned to look. But he supposed he had at least hoped Rolo would take his side when they were clearly facing enemies. Not that he and his brother ever seemed to agree who the real enemies were. "Sure…"

He knew; but it never stopped to amaze him as the next moment he experienced had him sliding down one of the little tables with an arm pinned behind his back. Out of his peripheral vision he saw the occupant of the table play out his own shock as he jumped back from his table and out of his seat.

"Rolo…" called a female voice from far away.

But his little brother was not listening; completely intend on this general and the perceived slight that had to be rectified. "I am in command of this unit." Rolo announced calmly as he continued to lever his brother to the ground with his one free arm. "And I accept full responsibility, thought I assure you it won't-"

That was as far as he got, because Lelouch had had enough a long time ago. And not even for his little brother would he kneel and grovel for some rebellious upstarts Numbers like these. The moment Rolo's grip slipped, Lelouch turned and elbowed him in the jaw mercilessly. The boy went down wide-eyed and yelped loudly as he hit the ground on the wrong side – his injured side. But the elder brother was _not_ sorry: in fact, he straddled the boy and pulled back to rain a whole world of hurt down him.

Again, Rolo activated his Geass and moved. By the time Lelouch had a sense of time again, he was somewhere half across the room, a cluster of tables pushed out and to the sides. By the feel of his ribs, his little brother had used him for kicking practice.

"Fight fair, damn it." He bit in no particular direction as he used an upturned table to get back to his feet.

Black knights all across the room were only now getting to their feet; confused. Muttering words as they either found themselves or other people suddenly moved from their previous positions; quite a few tables that had been pushed aside had been occupied. One or two people had even fallen down from their desks as Rolo had pushed him through them. Muttered words like "what the hell?" and "some kind of magic?" could be heard all around.

But of course, only Rolo and the notGod-witch would have been conscious of the whole scene; the rest of them were just guessing at what had transpired before them. And likely, only Lelouch could grasp at the truth. Finally, Lelouch spotted both his brother and the witch together. She was pulling him along, back to her seat.

When she got there she sat down and pulled the boy agent's head down to her lap. She started stroking his hair and whispering words he could not make out. And he let her. Like some stupid, obedient, oversized dog. Just kneeling down at her side looking… happy.

_That's right;_ he reminded himself, smoothening out his sneer at her meaningful glance. _That was basically what I have told her to do._ Or what he had told the Kallen girl to have her do. Still, he was shaking with rage. So he lashed out at an easier target.

With an angry finger he pointed on the projected map at the front of the room. "I don't have to be in command of anything to know what any three-year-old that ever played outside in the mud can tell you. You are discussing the way to protect the back of your main army, but the point is mute. Just look at the lay of the land, the way the hills swoop down to the ground behind your army.

"Keep in mind that it is half way through December and there has been quite a bit of rain already. Keep in mind that the bulk of both your army and that of your enemy still relies on landspinners to get around. Basically, you have nothing to worry about. All you have to do is pull in double flank and let your enemy traverse the ground between you. They will be stuck in the mud within a hundred meters. All you need is a few float-units nearby and you can pick off any enemy stupid enough to step into those grounds."

Lelouch took a calming breath, and spit to the side to get rid of the taste of blood. Then, completely ignoring the whole room standing there glowering at him he took out his papers with notes and walked up to the table. Once there, he was blocked from putting his notes on the table though.

"Now hear this, boy." The man he had identified as Oughi interjected. "You are not making a very good first impression on any of us, do you understand?"

"And if you make it to a second impression I can guarantee you'll hate me. Now." he stepped around the man easily enough, placing his paper on the table. "You have two enemy units around these positions; I'll have to make some calls to get their precise baring."

"Kallen get this maniac of your out of here so we can continue our meeting." Oughi had turned around to address the redhead, ignoring Lelouch's papers. It didn't really bother him; except to wonder who would be left in control of this organization after he bit off the acting head. Said acting head had been studying the map with a look of amazement on his face. Indeed, it might have been unfair to call general Tohdoh stupid.

"He's not though." the bulky general noted before had Kallen even got up to protest. Or concede. _Whatever._

"Sorry?"Oughi, and just about everyone else in the room, looked appalled.

Tohdoh grunted. "He's not a maniac. Or maybe he is, but he's still right about the ground. It may still look solid, but as soon as we put a Knightmare over that piece of land it will sink. He's got insight; I'll admit that much."

_You mean I've got the balls to say what anyone in this room with half a brain should have already seen._ Lelouch thought to himself. Out loud, he just said: "I have intel too. Now if you'll please look here, we can discuss something a bit more meaningful."

**0000~00000~00000~00000~0000**

**So that's it. Another chapter. So what do you guys think? Will the black knights be impressed by their former leader? Or just completely weirded out?**

**And what will Kallen's reaction be? Hehe. I have the basic plot done already but these things I'd like to leave up to your consideration for once. So we're now officially open for ideas and suggestions! -**** please make some ;)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry about the long update time. I had to start from scratch for this one (while a lot of chapters already had some part done). And even then about half-way through I realized I was cramming in too much so I split into two chapters. Next might be done relatively fast because of that!**

**~~-T-~~**

Despite his rather unorthodox introductions–or perhaps because of it-Tohdoh had taken more than a passing interest in the boy: strategic insight was a rare thing, especially at this level. And so Todhod had kept him back when dismissing his Black Knights: now it was just Tohdoh, Oghi and this boy Lelouch. To confirm that his impressions were indeed right: that they might actually have someone here that would match Tohdoh's strategic sense out on the battlefield.

Tohdoh used this last day before a battle for last-minute details anyway. And so the general had played out their strategic plans for tomorrow, incorporating some minor errors on purpose just to test the boy's ability. He got them all, pointed them out dutifully and even noted some improvements Todhoh himself had not been aware of. And again, Tohdoh was impressed. Even if he sat through their meeting slouched back into his chair like some delinquent, occasionally placing comments like '_do we really need to get into that?_' and '_can I go now?_', while in all honesty the boy should have felt _honored_ over such a private session.

Yes, even keeping in mind his lousy attitude, the boy was an asset to their battle planning force; but he was not _that_ amazing. The way Kallen had told about this boy, you would have thought he was Zero reincarnate. The boy had no grand vision though, no outrageous plans. Perhaps if he had had the _drive:_ that will and personal attachment. The only part about the whole thing that seemed to amuse him somewhat was the thought that his own countrymen; Britannians, were about to be slaughtered. Any effort to cut down on Japanese losses was met by mere apathy.

Again, the boy sighed as Oghi went over the details of plan Alpha-C. "Can't we _at least_ take care of the enemy force I showed you about first?"

Yes; the boy did seem to take more than a passing interest in getting as many of his old comrades either killed or captured. According to him, if the Britannians deserved to be slaughtered these men from the Order deserved extermination followed by never-ending purgatory. Betraying your own; it went against everything Tohdoh, as a man, believed in. But he supposed it suited Japan's interests to at least string the boy along: "if you give us your best right now, we might go after them tonight."

Silence again, and a very annoyed expression. But he did again provide useful insights into Britannian strategies when prompted.

So, between the boy, Oghi and Tohdoh they were perfecting a battle plan that would make tomorrow's push a good one. Indeed, anyone that saw the prognoses for their relative losses would be tempted to ascribe this battle – if it actually played out as planned – as a clear win for Japan. It would seem that way to anyone but those who had not had the math done for them by the number crunches down at task force deployment. But Tohdoh knew better.

Tomorrow's battle was originally calculated as a one to four: one Japanese to four Britannians casualties. These seemed like good odds, but in the long run, Britannia would be able to field _five times_ as many Knightmares and pilots as Japan. That meant that, in the end, any battle that had them loose more than one Japanese to every five Britannians would have them loose the war in the end. Even with the boy's adjustments- and Tohdoh could see they were good improvements-they only barely made it to four-point-eight. It was a gruesome thought to the aging Japanese warrior: that they would drag out this fight for years on end, just to be overrun by Britannia in a decade or two.

It was at that moment that the door burst open, to reveal the green-haired lady that had been Zero's confidant. C.C. stood there, blinking in the door frame a moment, before turning back at someone behind her with a small smile. "Please wait outside, Rolo."

A smile was a rare thing for this woman, Tohdoh knew. And indeed it seemed a pasted one; especially as it dropped the moment she closed that door behind her. As carefree as ever, she sauntered to the center of the room and announced: "I need to speak to Lelouch privately for a moment."

Now, normally the Japanese warrior would have reprimanded the girl. She might have enjoyed a certain special status back when Zero was leading them, but by now, that position was lost. And Tohdoh demanded a certain… discipline from his troupes. Not that he felt it should be his task to enforce it; but apparently everyone else was too cowed by this C.C. woman to put her in her place. Even Oghi seemed apprehensive of challenge her.

Tohdoh _would _have, had he not been too busy noting something very strange about his newly acquired protégé: he had not moved; not even straightened from his slouch. But where first his air had been one of bored apathy, he now radiated animosity. So Tohdoh decided to let this scene play out by itself, placing a warning hand on Oghi when the man finally moved to intervene.

The boy replied icily: "I thought we agreed you could speak to me through Kallen."

The girl shrugged: "I never agreed to anything. Also, this can hardly wait."

After that, they got into some weird kind of staring match. Oghi started fidgeting; but Tohdoh just looked on, fascinated. The Japanese general was not a master of reading people; or even situations. But he knew about skills, about what to look for in a person's walk to identify them as a fighter. He could tell when a person was fake bravado and when a person was hiding murderous ability under feigned ignorance. Thus, Tohdoh had pegged _both_ brothers as skilled assassins right away, with the younger winning out easily in all physical departments.

But C.C., while a good enough Knightmare pilot, had no hidden prowess in martial art; not as far as Tohdoh could tell. Thus there was no reason Tohdoh could think of why _anyone_ would fear this young woman. So perhaps Tohdoh was reading this thick atmosphere wrong; as said, reading people, was not one of his strongest skills.

Their silence took, perhaps, a whole minute. Then, C.C. let out a long-drawn sigh. "You know, it gets tiresome to just have to listen to _you_ all the time when you refuse to hear a word_ I_ am saying."

She took a step closer.

The boy jumped up. "And that's close enough, thank you. Now _leave_."

C.C. sighed again. "Have it your way. But I just want you to know, I am – _and have always been_ – on your side."

Then, she turned to address Tohdoh instead: "And as we are _all on the same side_, I think it would be best if I told you, Lelouch has calculated that the odds that will leave Britannia and Japan in a stalemate are one against five-point- two. I suggest we run his calculation by the math guys later. But now." And then slammed her hand on the table with a look more determined then Tohdoh had ever seen on her. She fixed the boy with her glare: "As we are _all allies_ here, and it would be in _no one's favor_ that we turn this into a stalemate that can last decades, Lelouch is going to come up with a real winning tactic for us."

With that, she turned and strode from the room. And Tohdoh could not suppress a smirk, even when the boy finally sat down again and scowled at him.

"I want my knife back."

"So you can stab a defenseless young woman?" Tohdoh gave a pitying shake of the head. "Request denied. So show me this amazing winning strategy."

"How the hell should I even _have _one?" He was still scowling, but back into his laid-back delinquent personae. "As far as I know, we've already shored up on any mistakes, and one against five still seems like good odds to me."

As much as Tohdoh was tempted to agree, he didn't say anything. He just watched silently, together with Oghi, as the boy finally threw their map more than a passing glance. Eyes darted over the map faster and faster; like mounting panic. "Ah. No; it's not possible. We already got the best there is to get out of this."

Oghi seemed to take this as obvious truth, and Tohdoh also assented; well at least he had seen the boy _try_.

"Ah; unless of course, you are willing to move the battle up to the coast."

"And, we would need to conjure up a tsunami."

**~~-L-~~**

They never knew what hit them: with two trucks, three Knightmares and sixteen Britannian top soldiers between them, one might have expected better. But they had hardly expected to be attacked by a Japanese strike-team. Let alone one that had very precise intel on both their position and their routine of operations. It was past midnight, and their guards were taken from all sides at once. The sleeping men had hardly roused before they found themselves at gun point.

A few miles off, two agents were still oblivious to the Japan's armies' moves on all of them. But their nightly lair was already surrounded, and a mobile base of operations was already spying on them.

This mobile base took the shape of several darkened vehicles. And the biggest, most luxurious car held a nondescript soldier at the wheel, a Japanese general in the front seat, and three teens in the back: an immortal, and two Britannian turncoats. Rolo was somewhat sandwiched in the middle, C.C. and Lelouch on either side. Through the window's refection Lelouch could see the witch at the far end, exactly mirroring his expressions: looking out of the window, with a bored '_I never wanted to be here in the first place'_. It annoyed him to no end.

Tohdoh watched a monitor feed from the stealth-team closing in on the two hapless Britannian agents out in the field. Convincing the Black Knights that the video feeds should be pointed at their own men's faces, and the audio feeds adjusted to only pick up the wearer's voice had been the most difficult part. But Lelouch didn't much like leaving things to chance, and just because _his_ Geass wouldn't travel through media didn't necessarily mean another man's could not.

And so they sat in the car watching a soldier's face and listening to several voices reporting that the first target was subdued. It only made sense: the one they had caught – the one on watch - was the one with the tracking ability. This was the part Lelouch thought of as simple. The second agent would be the problem. And indeed, when they reached his sleeping bag, they found it empty. Soon soldiers were out swarming the surroundings for the missing agent.

Rolo's tone was polite: "perhaps it would be an idea if I and my brother went after the escapee?"

Lelouch took in a sharp breath, but the old general just grunted. "I'm not ready to trust the pair of you that far yet."

"But we would never do anything to betray _the mistress_ or her allies." Rolo sounded sincere; almost appalled.

And this time Lelouch failed at biting down on his comment: "You do realize, brother, that when that Tamaki guy referred to her as such, he meant she was actually _someone's_ mistress?"

Rolo was about to scold him over speaking such, but he was cut off by the witch herself. "Ah you noticed that? And do you have any idea _whose mistress_ they think I am_, huunn_? It's actually _quite funny _when you think about it.", she said in her usual, un-amused tone.

Rolo gave her words a polite amount or time, before continuing: "Still, an Agent is best suited to catch an Agent. Please trust us with this."

The Japanese general turned around in his seat to address the younger brother personally. "Boy while I do not doubt your sincerity, you I do have some doubt about _Uragirimono–kun_ here…"

"Awww, ouch!" Lelouch told his reflection. It was not like he saw any need to go volunteering for dangerous tasks anyway.

But the Japanese general just hummed. "So tell me, Rolo. I understand you have a special power that controls time. Pray tell, what does your brother do? And these other agents?"

The alarm bells going off in his head were enough to make that immortal witch turn and stare at him. Lelouch answered before his little brother's honesty would get them both killed. "I have a questioning ability" that was not necessarily a lie, because he had often used his Geass to make people tell the truth. "The man you caught does tracking. The one missing will have a battle ability like Rolo. I have reason to believe it requires the recipient to need to hear the Agent's voice for it to work."

Stubbornly, Lelouch continued to stare out the window. Feeling his brother shift his weight; probably to stare at him, and give Lelouch a chance to rectify his little embellishment before the younger brother felt he had to. _Now, if that not-god witch ever wanted to prove she was on his side…_

"Good answer." The immortal wearing a girl's face interjected; and just that was enough to silence Rolo. As expected; the boy never did break the perceived chain of command. Lelouch barely managed to suppress a relieved sigh. At least the witch was willing to go out on a limb for them here. Not that it made him trust her. But the witch just threw him a warning glare for that last comment, and then went back to staring out of the window.

"Then let me go alone." Lelouch turned to stare at his brother slack jawed, barely registering the girl-immortal doing the same, if a little more composed. What did the boy think he needed to prove? "Apart from my sincerity, I would _never _just leave my brother, so you can be sure I will return."

"The same could be said for me, with the added bonus that I have _absolutely_ no loyalty to the Order or this Agent on the run here." Lelouch snapped his mouth shut, but the damage had already been done. Was stupid catching or something? He should have at least kept his mouth shut until they had agreed Rolo to go. Hell, the man had one arm taped to his body. Surely, that alone disqualified him for this. Then again, you never could tell with these _military types_. The ones in the order had all been the crazy enough. No, there was no way he was chancing on Rolo getting himself killed. "Besides, if I make a run for it, your witch will always be able to find me anyway."

C.C. threw him a look, and general Tohdoh really did sound surprised: "She can?"

"Obviously." The witch admitted with a roll of the eyes. "That is how I found them in the first place."

_Allies huh?_ Lelouch inwardly smirked. For people that supposedly trusted each other fully, there seemed an awful lot that one did not know about the other. The elder brother made a mental note not to slip out any more information that was absolutely needed in the future. This particular piece of info would do him little damage as he had nowhere to go anymore anyhow. Even if the witch kept up her end of the bargain and left him alone, there was still V.V.. Still, knowledge was power, and one shouldn't squander what little you had. The Japanese general was staring at Lelouch by now. "Can you do it?"

"Don't be silly, Lelouch." His little brother's tone had turned condescending when addressing his sibling. He really did love Rolo a lot. And his little brother was probably just trying to look out for him again. It was always important to remember that, lest he throttle the boy in a moment of weakness. By the time Rolo addressed Tohdoh he sounded respectful again: "This is not big brother's sort of thing _at all._ Let me go."

Lelouch might have gone a little cross-eyed at that. "I'll be back in half an hour." He announced, and quickly stepped out of the vehicle.

_Perfect, just perfect._ Well, Lelouch considered, conjuring up a map of the area from memory in his mind. Figuring out what way the Agent would be trying to make his getaway was easy. There were only two viable routes: either try to get away south, through the cover of some bushes. Or take the north route, over a river and up a steep hill. Lelouch was almost sure the Agent had taken the second route.

So basically, all he had to do was walk around and stay the hell away from that area and he would be fine.

Well, maybe not _fine_ fine, as he had little credibility as it was. And if he just let that Agent pass him by without making even an attempt to catch him, it would probably look pretty bad. They might even cancel the new battle plan he had come up with, and they definitely would not let him watch. That would be a shame, because watching Britannians die miserably seemed like such a fun pass-time.

Lelouch threw a furtive glance up the hill, where he knew that Agent would be heading. But there was really no way he was going to take on another Agent one on one, when he didn't even know what the man's Geass was. There was a cough behind him, and Lelouch jumped, turned around.

He tried for composure as soon as he recognized her silhouette in the shadows: "And what are you doing here?"

The witch-immortal shrugged. "I thought I'd keep an eye on you. Provide some moral support, as to speak."

Despite himself, Lelouch groaned. "If you can _really_ read my mind, witch, you know there is _no way_ I'm doing this. Unless…" he quirked an eyebrow at her. "Unless you are willing to do the actual work."

Her tone sounded amused, and Lelouch thought he saw a smirk on her face. "Now it is well known around here, that as a rule, I don't _do_ any work."

He shrugged at her, but she continued, taking a step closer: "Still, for you, I might be willing to break that rule. Just to make you look good. How does that sound?"

"Stupid." He snorted. "People start expecting miracles from me, and I'll be in a whole lot of trouble when I can't deliver. Besides, I'd rather get underestimated. It makes life easier."

She took another step closer, but her face was still frustratingly under lit. "And if I were to promise you to be there every time you needed a miracle? Would you take my offer then? Would it not be nice to have people believe in you for once?"

"I do have people that believe in me. Me, and my broth-… well, okay: maybe just me." Lelouch sighed again; under the circumstances, the offer was just too good to refuse. Still. _Don't expect me to trust you…._ "Do you have a gun?" he asked her at long last.

She shrugged. "Not on me. Do you need me to get you one?"

"For yourself perhaps. For this I think I'd prefer a soldier's helmet. And some headphones with some really loud music."

**~~-oc-~~**

Agent Jeffrey almost burst out laughing, as the two Japanese soldiers met. "Subaru!" Called the one under his Geass. "Please come over here."

The man complied, easily. And when he had come close enough, his new Japanese friend continued. Jeffrey didn't really know the language well enough to tell, but he was obviously being introduced.

"Greetings." Jeffrey intoned, letting the power hidden in his eye resurface. Letting it strengthen his words. "I am Jeffrey. I am your friend."

The soldier's–Subaru's-scowl immediately disappeared as Jeffrey's words etched themselves on his very soul. Yes; his power made everything he said sound like an absolute truth. And thus, he was now best friends with these two enemy soldiers.

This really was all too easy. And thus the three men made their way through the river and up the steep slope. They didn't move too fast, as Jeffrey's friends were amendment about protecting him to their best ability. But it was pretty safe going. In fact, he was half tempted to go back and free his partner before leaving. But such self-sufficiency was not encouraged amongst Agents, so Jeffrey would get himself to safety and contact base for further instructions first.

He wasn't that attached to his partner anyway. They had only been assigned to each other about a year back, when both their partners' Geass had gone out of control around the same time and they had been left as loners. Jeffrey still missed his old partner sometimes; she had been a girl he had grown rather fond of over the years. Still, he didn't much think on her and just considered himself lucky to have a Geass manageable and useful even if he had gone 24/7 years ago.

When the three 'friends' had made their way up the slope, Jeffrey found the last piece of luck to complete his mistake: there, in the dark, stood a dark military vehicle. The only guard in sight was a boy-soldier, leaning on the side of the vehicle with his hands in his pockets. In the dark, Jeffrey could just make out his gleaming helmet over the top of the car. Eagerly, he sent out his to 'friends' to secure the driver.

Jeffrey watched the display from the shadows, as the two soldiers hailed and pointed the boy in his direction. There was a bit of a discussion, in Japanese and the Agent could not make out much more then 'wari' and some shakes of the head from the boy. The soldiers responded with "nani, anno hea." and "okashina…" then one of his friends pointed his rifle at the boy, and their voices started getting louder. The boy put his hands up, but was still not moving from his spot. Jeffrey cursed and entered the clearing himself: the last thing he needed was loud voices-or worse, gunshots-to give away his position to the enemy.

But there was no reason to worry: Jeffrey's Geass was such that he needed only to open his mouth to stop any situation from escalating. "No need for worry, boy." he called out as he stepped into the clearing. "We are all friends here. And you would be happy to drive me to my destination, I know."

But then the boy straightened up and turned to face him, and Jeffrey noticed three very worrying things about him: first of all, he was too tall and his face too angular for him to be Japanese at all. Second, he had one eye firmly closed. Third –as Jeffrey's own voice died down and finally he had the silence to hear- the boy was listening to some very loud music; loud enough for him to not have heard a word Jeffrey had said.

And then Jeffrey's mind left him as the boy opened his left eye to reveal his own uncontrollable Geass: "Jeffrey is it?" Lelouch asked civilly. "Please explain to your friends here that what you really want to do is surrender to the Black Knights, and that you would enjoy their help in this."

As the two soldiers took their 'best friend' into custody, C.C. stepped out from the bushes. "Huuu~unn?" she asked, dumping the firearm she had acquired on one of the two tear-stricken men. "You didn't need my help at all."

"Yes I did." Lelouch admitted, a little tiredly. "Backup in case of unforeseen circumstances."

She tisked at him. "And you said you didn't trust me."

He didn't, but: "you do seem to want me alive."

"aah." She said solemnly, suddenly looking old. "And I could have just told your brother off too, if you'd thought to ask."

At his confused look she continued: "Back in the car. If I had told Rolo he couldn't go, that would have been the end of it. Not that Tohdoh would have let him go in the first place. But." And she tapped her forehead. "You do have to ask; if only in your head. I'm not psychic enough to know what you want ahead of time, you know."

**00000000**

**That's it! Whoohoo! Next up; epic battle time! Don't forget to say hi after reading. Oh and again this has not been beta'd yet so please point out any mistakes you might see!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Fight-o!**

**~~-O-~~**

Oghi looked over the rows and rows of Knightmares spread out neatly before him. They fell into three groups; the first group would load themselves into the dropships now. The second would be picked up later, while the third group would only be here on standby. If all went well, they would never be picked up; their presence was just a decoy if enemy intelligence picked up on them. Just one of these groups was already way past the official safe carrying limit for the ships; so much so that they would be hard pressed to even make the other side of the water with a their first two loads. The third run, however, they would do with empty hulls. This was also part of the diversionary tactics that had that third part of their army on stand-by. All this was to keep the enemy in the dark to their true intentions until the last minute.

Yes; if all went well the last Japanese Island remaining in Britannian hands would be theirs again before nightfall.

Todoh had already explained to the fighters, and was now taking his place in his own Knightmare. Everyone was ready to move out; all they needed was a proper send-off. It was at these times that Oghi truly missed Zero, for surely he would have had something inspiring to say to these men. Todoh was a great tactician, and a good field-commander. But he was not one for grand speeches. Oghi, while he picked up the need for it, just didn't have the taste for theatrics. He was, by all rights, a modest man. But apparently, so were the other Black Knights: there was not anyone within their ranks that was willing to take up this task.

And this turncoat, this kid that now seemed to have Todoh's full-hearted approval? Well, Oghi could hardly expect a Britannian to give any words of encouragement to soldiers about to slaughter his own countrymen. But the boy begrudgingly accompanying Oghi was drawing some worried stares from the men. For an assassin, he was remarkable conspicuous; even standing to the side of the stage looking uninterested and bored with everything around him. Oghi rolled his eyes; taking the boy along was a mistake: he was _detrimental_ to the men's morale.

Then again, as everyone of importance was either on stand-by or about to go into battle, they only had one other option: to lock the brothers back into a cell. That idea seemed to go down badly with both Kallen and C.C. though. And now, Todoh seemed to have come around to that stance as well. Something about this Lelouch kid not just being high level theories, but also holding his weight in the field. Though when Oghi had asked the boy about it, he had been adamant that he done nothing except ask the enemy to surrender. And that he would not be doing it again.

Oghi supposed he should have been happy C.C. had offered to take the younger brother along in her Knightmare, because else he might even have been babysitting _two boys_. Sadly, as the elder seemed to think the green-haired girl was the equivalent of the black plague, sending him with her was not an option. So Oghi was stuck with the elder brother; the one that had concocted this crazy plan: the Japanese Resistance Leader was more than a little doubtful of these plans that he could hardly understand on paper-let alone that he would have been able to explain any of it to the men. But Todhoh had been convinced, and _Todoh_ was their main, best, tactician. So they were going with it.

Now, with Todoh was heading out himself, the last words of encouragement to be said to the troupes would have to come from Oghi. Indeed, not one of his greatest strengths. He cleared his throat, speaking into the microphone: "All troops, please remember to keep one slash harken in reserve. Remember that it is part of our strategy that we are going to be out-flanked. Do not break your lines when this happens. Do not falter. Good luck!"

The men gave a boisterous cry, which Oghi imagined was more out of form then from his words, and the first third of the armies went on to load themselves into the drop-ships. The small group of flight-enabled machines they had would have to make the cross on their own power, as much as that would deplete their battery packs.

He and Lelouch were already in the elevator to the main flag-ship before the boy commented: "Shouldn't you have said something about you guys being the divine wind of justice? Or maybe in this case a divine wave? Heh. Not Kamikaze but Kami_nami_."

When he chuckled at his own little joke Oghi fixed him with a glare. "Would you like to write me a speech next time?"

He raised his hand in mock apology. "Please, it's probably not even funny to you Elevens. Besides, I don't actually _like _work."

"Let's just get up get on with this crazy plan." Oghi decided, not even commenting on the boy's choice of words. _Elevens?_ "Tell me boy, did you have many _friends_ back in your Britannian army?"

"Please!" he chuckled as he sauntered out of the elevator, past his elder, hands in pockets. "Pompous self-righteous bastards, the lot of them."

"And don't forget racist; so I imagine you fit in perfectly." Oghi used a snide tone. He got a surprised look and a strangely pleased smile for his efforts.

**~~-OC-~~**

The Britannian armies held up in the beach-side fort were more than a little surprised when the whole enemy armada came up to them in drop-ships. They were not that big of a base, but a fort was easily defended in most cases. But having Knightmares dropped into your enclosure was not one of those most case scenarios. The simple drop-ships might have been cut down easily by their enemies' anti-air turrets, but with their flag-ship in front of the neat row of ships, and a group of flight-enabled Knightmares to take the brunt of the beating-protecting the ships from the barrage-they made it easily.

By the time the ships had returned with the next load of fighters, the fort was taken. But the Britannians had hardly sat idle: their main army was gathered on the beach by now, already closing in on the taken fortress. And Corneilia's own, flight enabled unit was in the fray as well. With the flag-ship still smoking slightly from the barrage it had taken, the Japanese unloaded their second part of the army next to the fort, leaving one flank protected by the taken fort.

Then they returned to the far coast one last time for their fake transport run.

Ultimately, the odds were against them, out here on the open beach. Todoh had known that, which was why the original strategy had them go around the main force, and attack their enemy from land. Slowly, their position was becoming crowded, as they found themselves outnumbered two to one, and soon three to one.

**~~-C-~~**

The newly made Shinkiro had been built especially with Zero as devicer in mind. But it was one of the few units outfitted with a float-system, so it would be a shame to leave it out of battle. Plus, it had space for two.

Rolo shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat as C.C. stopped pestering ground troops as a two-dozen or so flight-enabled Britannian Knigtmares joined battle: Cornelia's Knight's division had finally made it. Kallen was already ahead of them, of course. Likely heading right for Cornelia and her Knight, as those would be leading battle. The red ace probably had her blood boiling in anticipation by now. The boy-agent cleared his throat: "Mistress; would you like me to use my ability for your battle?"

"C.C." the witch corrected him, for the umpteenth time within twenty-four hours.

He apologized. "Mistress C.C., would you like me to…"

The immortal turned her deadpan expression on the boy, hoping against hope to get through to him. "_Just C.C.;_ the main reason I left the Order is all that worshipping you lot do. And no, I do not want you using your ability unless there is an emergency."

If possible, his voice turned even more awed. "Mistress C.C. was part of the Order?"

C.C. snorted, occupied with one of the lesser knights to have a float unit: "They founded the bloody religion in my honor and all. V.V. only came around like forty years ago you know. I suppose I shouldn't have just let him waltz in and hog all the power, but honestly I was just happy for the company at the time…"

That might not have been the best idea, C.C. thought as she noted his awe-stricken expression. She knew she was supposed to pull the boy away from the Order's influence, but this was hitting her too close for comfort. C.C.'s original Geass -that had made all love her unconditionally-had cured her of ever wishing for worshippers again. Rolo was freaking her out.

"Loosen up Rolo, listen to your brother for once." She could only hope.

Even from her position on the controls, she could see his face darken. "Brother has been very rude to the Mistress. I must apologize on his behalf."

"No you mustn't." C.C. replied, unthinkingly; back to her fight.

It was quiet for a moment as she turned and parried and only the clangs on the metal frames broke the silence. "Would you like me to talk to him for you, Mistress?"

"Just. C.C.." The witch took out her frustration on the hapless Knightmare in front of her. A thought hit her then: "When you say talk, do you mean _actually talk_ or do you mean repeatedly bang his head against a wall?"

The boy didn't miss a beat: "Whichever mistress C.C. wants it to mean."

"That's what I was afraid of." The immortal sighed, finishing off her opponent with a slash and looking around for another target. Shinkiro was not really apt for close-combat, but that was what she longed for right now. "Rolo, if you wish to, please talk to your brother- and I mean talk. But not on my account: I can fight my own battles. Besides, I've already pushed my point hard enough. I will give our boy a few days of space and see if he comes around."

There was no denying the sadness in the boy's voice: "Brother is very stubborn though…"

C.C. sighed again. It was true; and this kid really wasn't so bad. He couldn't help that he had been brainwashed.

"…Mistress."

C.C. winced. The boy was _so_ freaking her out.

**~~-Ra-~~**

The little aircraft floated in place high above the water, and Rakshata herself was sitting behind the one computer on board, making last-minute adjustments. The only other occupant was the pilot, seated somewhat in front of her. He was occupied on the radio. Finally, he turned to address the dark-skinned scientist. "All charges are set and the men have pulled back to a safe distance. The air-ships are returning to the battle for the last time. All is set."

The Indian scientist nodded her ascent; then smiled. She allowed herself a short moment of anticipation: Sakuradite was not just a good source of power, of course. Like all good fuels, it exploded quite well. Then, with baited breath, she set off the first charge, and looked down on the water.

A wrinkle, and then a small hill formed within the waves, hardly noticeable within the sea's quiet turbulence. Then a second charge caused an added hump in the sea's surface. Then a third charge added, directing the hill towards the shore, falling in perfectly with a wave. The charge and wave together only came up perhaps twenty meters. But a fourth and a fifth charge led that wave on, adding to it. Raising its size and height and strength again. By the time that wave had reached its twentiest charge, it was a behemoth amongst the tiny, normal waves of the semi-quiet sea. And still charges added to it, and added again.

**~~-L-~~**

The Japanese side was slowly getting crunched; folding together and losing its offensive force because of it. Backs to the water, they were out of space. But their ships were almost in place, hovering over their own forces after a low run past the beach that was the mock move to put down the third part of their army. The part still firmly planted on Japan-owned shores.

Before they were even well in place, Lelouch saw the Black Knight named Oghi grab for the communicator. "Wait for it." He counseled.

Oghi turned, his patient expression long replaced by one of mounting terror and distrust. "Wait even longer? We need to move now, before our army goes down.

Lelouch shrugged; he thought he might like man. Though he was high-up, he was obviously not military trained. And though keeping a level head in a situation such as this seemed beyond the Japanese, he seemed capable and had at least some wit to him. Turning, the Britannian turncoat looked out the starboard side. "Can you see it? Is it not magnificent?"

He certainly thought it was; his feet took him closer to the wide window, and he could hear the Japanese follow him, breath catching as they took in the face of nature, burrowing down towards them.

"On my mark!" the Japanese man called again, microphone in hand.

Lelouch reached out this time, putting a hand over the snare. "Patience. Let's not let all that hard work go to waste."

But the make-shift commander was scowling now. "Our men are dying down there. I know _you _don't care, but _I_ do."

Lelouch watched that great, great wave close in on them. So slowly, ever so slowly. Rising and rising up until its shadow reached their ship and plunged them into an eerie darkness. "It will work so much better if you just _wait for it._"

A click and Lelouch knew it was the end of a gun's barrel connecting to the back of his head. "Are you willing to bet your own life on that, turncoat?"

He could not help but smile. "Silly man. I already did; and Todoh bet all of _your lives_ along with it, because he thought it was a sure win. Now wait for it."

The silence was tense, and Lelouch somehow felt the need to convince this man. "Of course, if this all goes horribly wrong and our ship goes down, I would be more then thankful if you would shoot me in the head, lest I somehow survive and find myself dragged back to the Order."

It really was magnificent. Had he not been an atheist, this is what Lelouch would have imagined the face of god to look like. Not the face of that ten-year-old with hair like he had the barber's shop for the better part of a century. Lelouch removed his hand from the microphone. "Go ahead, make the call. It's time."

Oghi waited not a moment: "Execute move Icarus in three, two, one. Execute!"

At three, Lelouch could already feel the engines of their great ship moving to full throttle; and by one they were moving up as hard and fast as they could. The other ships, he could see from the window, did the same; pushing up as fast as they could. Only to be grabbed and grappled by their own armies: Every Japanese devicer turned the Slash harken they had kept in reserve to the ship above them and fired into their own ships. Then, they commenced hoisting themselves up.

The ships had enough momentum to keep moving up; even with the added weight of too many Knightmare frames pulling them down. They moved up; but were quickly losing speed. The ships were far, far over their maximum weight limit. Engines soared. The flag-ship's own screamed like an astral piglet to slaughter. They shook, and the rail Lelouch had grabbed was vibrating with a frequency that told him the whole ship would shake apart soon. But they still moved up; and that wave, that great wave reached them. Reached under them: they had cleared it.

And below, those pathetic retches were washed away, without even a chance to fight their enemies in battle. No glorious battle; no glorious death. Smashed into the beach, then drowned and wiped away like mere insects. Only a few of those flight-enabled units had made it up to safety. It was marvelous: and he laughed. Loudly, madly. And harder at the scared expressions of the Japanese around him. Even as they went down slowly; down in an only partially controlled crash-landing.

Then, as Knightmares released themselves, jumping back down into the shallow waters below, the ship's descend slowed, until they finally became stationary. Then flagship and carriers around them started slowly moving up again. Engines all across their armies sighed in relief as they were toned down.

The silence lasted at least a full minute before Lelouch got bored with it. "Well?" he asked Oghi.

The man grimaced at him, from where he was still clutching a railing. Finally, he pulled out the communicator. "This is field-commander Oghi. Finish the stragglers and then line up. We still have a city to free from occupation."

**~~-K-~~**

Kallen had been engaged with Guildford when the wave hit. She had been happy enough to let all the planning for this by Todoh and Lelouch-who-should-be-Zero. And who would be again, if she got her way. And she usually did. No, planning was not Kallen's forte. She was more a point-me-where-to-shoot girl.

That didn't mean she didn't appreciate a well-planned natural disaster like this though: watching it pass had paralyzed both her and her enemy. It was majestic. And the _noise;_ that shaking feeling of _sheer force_: it really was like Kami himself had finally deigned to wipe those worthless Britannians from the face of the earth.

As the waves died down and the beach slowly drained from water, Kallen made ready to grapple her enemy once again.

But he stood stunned, then turned and fled; back open and undefended; returning to his Princess, who was also making a fast get away: Corneilia was no coward, but it was easy to see this battle was a loss for them. Even for that head-strong Witch of Britannia.

Kallen laughed, challenging on the open channel: "Yeah, that's right! You better run, Britannian scum!"

She laughed again: "Run and cower, bitches! Zero is back!"

**00~~00~~00~~**

**Uuh. That was actually pretty complicated to do. Hope it was as easy enough to follow as it looked in my head. Well, without the pretty swirling colors only I can see. hehe. Don't forget to say hi! Review, have a cooky.**


	14. Chapter 14

**love you guys! Thanks for the support!**

**~~-L-~~**

The first orders of business had been to secure the island. A large group of Knightmares was set out for that purpose, under the command of Tohdoh and some Holy Sword-or something. Lelouch stuck to Oghi, following him about as he was going through his chores. That also meant following him to the island's main city. On the streets, Japanese everywhere were celebrating. But on the Britannian, high-society side of town the mood was depressed. It all seemed too familiar: the quiet, the fearful looks from half-hidden figures behind windows. They strung a desolate choir within Lelouch he didn't much care for, and made very little sense when inspected too closely.

_Had Rolo been hurt when their mother had died? That had been in a car-crash; he was certain. Had Rolo been in that car as well? But his brother could not walk for himself; Lelouch was carrying him now, on his back. They had been turned out of another orphanage, and so they walked the streets. Empty, desolate. It was dangerous to be out here, but they had little choice. Lelouch did not know if it was the first, or the twentieth time they had been turned out. But he did know it had been his fault; he had demanded something. Something as simple and fundamental as basic human rights; but he had asked it from some self-important bastard who had styled himself an absolute king. His demands had only gotten them run out into the street._

_Lelouch fumed at the audacity of chasing a wounded, crippled boy out into the streets for such an offence; for his brother's offence. Is it not the task of orphanage owners to take care of orphans? Now though, he had more pressing concerns on his mind. It seemed there had been riots. There were dead bodies everywhere, but he could trust this Japanese boy he was following; because that boy was his friend..? Lelouch didn't even remember his face. Some friend he turned out to be..._

When Oghi announced they were returning to base, it was not a minute too soon for the ex-agent. On their way back, Lelouch bugged Oghi some more about when General Todoh was to be back, but it seemed that would not be before morning the next day. This was fine, as he doubted Tohdoh would be able to contact the Order tonight; and surely the general had not had the time yesterday.

The ex-Agent still feared it; thought he supposed he was reasonably safe here, in a different land. With a different immortal.

Still, Lelouch had no intention of letting Tohdoh deal this particular piece of info over to the Order. So he would need to move quickly. The first step in his plan was to pester his chaperone some more about the prisoners, and how Lelouch would be very useful if they were to be questioned. Not that he thought for one moment that that would be allowed, but it was always a good idea to push one's own agenda when you were out to bother people anyway. When Oghi was faced with the issue of large quantities of prisoners of wars, Lelouch made bold suggestions on the lines of just putting the lot over the border and be rid of them.

Most seemed scandalized by the suggestion, but honestly, it was the best solution. It was not like they would ever beat the Britannians with sheer numbers; it all came down to provisions in the end. This way, the refugees would drain Britannian funds, not theirs. Without Todoh there to fully grasp the situation, his suggestions were simply cast aside though. But that was fine.

Once the Oghi was annoyed enough and too busy to notice, Lelouch just faded to the background. Nobody seemed to pay him any attention by the time they had touched down back at base, probably because everyone was celebrating. And, though Leluoch knew he looked somewhat out of place, enough men had seen him walk around with important people for him not to be detained just for being Britannian. One or two soldiers seemed to take his presence in by simply re-doubling their efforts and crying happy "down with Britannia!" slurs at him. As he answered these cries with a happy smile and wave, even the drunkards seemed to deem him okay though. He could mingle with these people.

It was time to play a few card games.

**~~-N-~~**

She had already been taken aboard a small transport by the time her half-sister returned from the war. The swish and hustle of Cornelia's entourage was hard to mistake for anything else, even if Nunnally's eyes were still closed and useless.

"Welcome back, sister." Nunnally offered with a weak smile.

The bustle of entourage stopped as they reached her, and the warrior princess knelt down in front of the wheelchair and embraced her little half-sibling. "I'm sorry, Nunnally. We will have to leave Japan now."

She tried to keep a brave face, though Nunnally well knew there were tears rolling down her face. Perhaps she should have been bolder; drawn more attention to herself. But Cornelia did not like her little sister to draw too much attention, lest she become the target of terrorist attacks. It was hardly surprising, this over-protectiveness after what had happened to the warrior's only full sibling, Euphie.

As a result, few people even knew about Nunnally's existence beyond the fact that she was Cornelia's crippled half-sister and needed protection.

There was nothing to be done about all this now though. Wisdom in hindsight, at best: "It's alright, sister. You did your best. We will just have to find Lelouch another way."

Cornelia stiffened at that; and Nunnally could not help feel that tiny bubble of suspicion that suggested perhaps Cornelia was not telling all she knew about their lost brother. Then, the warrior drew back a little, and Nunnally felt her smooth out her hair. "Let's just return home. The good news is that at least we will be home well in time before the Christmas celebrations."

Nunnally tried to laugh at that; it would be her first Christmas back with her family, as she had just missed last year's; her discovery and return to her family late by only a few days. Perhaps the celebrations would serve to lift both their spirits.

By the time Cornelia took her leave, a different presence approached her. "Hello Nunnally." He called, sounding a little sad, as he always did these days.

She tried to be especially cheerful for him. "Suzaku! Are you coming home with us too?"

"Yes Nunnally." He sighed, dejected. "I suppose I am."

Nunnally never saw his eyes flicker angrily towards Cornelia's entourage. He never voiced the accusations; that her sister had been so stubborn to not allow him into battle even in the face of imminent defeat. But she knew the stares were there; she knew the words that were not spoken. Nunnally sighed. Perhaps she could do something to lift Suzaku's spirit's too this Christmas. He needed it perhaps most of all.

**~~-K-~~**

Celebrations were well under way by the time Kallen was done with her chores and could leave her beloved Guren well-taken care of in the hanger,and so she set out to look for a certain someone. She supposed she should have just let the man be; but after all this time apart, especially after this victory that announced Zero's return, Kallen felt a need to… know what he was up to. Besides, this was a time for celebrating. Japan was finally, fully in Japanese hands. It would remain to be seen if they could keep it.. But surely, the man that had made this possible should not be left out of the celebrations.

And when she found him, she was glad to know where he was and what he was doing, but she was content simply to watch for a little while, and then to leave him to his game. It really was nostalgic; Kallen had only heard of Lelouch's illegal gambling trips playing high-stake chess, but she imagined the sight presented to her here would be quite alike to what she had missed back at Ashford. Sure, this was poker; sure, this was against a bunch of Japanese soldiers, not against some Britannian noble. But he was still winning, if the pile in front of him was any indication. He was still cleaning out his indignant opponents: not only were there several types of currencies – on that pile Kallen saw rings, weapons, a helmet and… several Black Knight visors?

Kallen balked; watching the scene again with totally different eyes. Lelouch rubbed at his eye; the patch he had somehow acquired covering a few stitches, some discoloring but most importantly that blazing red Geass only she and the top Black Knights knew about. Three of his opponents had already lost their visors to the stack. A fourth sighed dejectedly; offering hisas if that would allow him to continue playing.

Leluoch laughed. "You know I collect them. As you see. Sure."

There were only two players left actually _wearing_ their visors. This was a quiet corner; the chance of random people passing by at the wrong time was low. And he rubbed at his eye. Maybe it really just itched. _Maybe…_

To say Kallen was upset would have been an understatement. She marched up to the table with barely contained rage.

"Soldiers;" she addressed the gathered men. "You will wear you uniforms fully, including your headgear. Especially in the company of our 'guests'. As for you…"

She didn't even have the words. Angrily, she grabbed Lelouch's elbow and proceeded to pull him to the closest office—thankfully empty—she had access to. When they were inside she locked the door and turned on the lights. Then she took a moment to note the details of that switch. Plain, square. Plastic. It took her a while, but when Kallen had collected herself well enough, she whirled around. "How many of _our_ men have you Geassed with your _curse_ already?"

"I don't know what you are talking about. I was just playing a game of cards."

Sometime in the last year, the Lelouch she knew must have lost his ability to lie perfectly, because it was easy to tell: he stood too straight, eyes ahead. Like he knew it was no use, but was just too stubborn to not at least try.

Then Kallen realized it _was_ no use: "I'm going to ask C.C.."

She was almost out of the door before he caught her on the arm forcefully; his expression was soft, if maybe a little tense around the eye.

"Three; just three. Please don't tell her."

Kallen tisked. "Why, Lelouch?"

His body pose relaxed, and Kallen briefly wondered if she had been fooled again. But he scoffed, finding a desk to lean on and suitably derailed her with his answer. He still hadn't released her: "I need to uncover a spy remember?"

The change was sudden, complete, and everything Kallen had wished for. She coughed, calling attention to the allegedly offending arm on her sleeve with a finger. Then sighed, feeling a little hot. "You really don't need to, Lelouch. If you'd only _asked _for my help…"

Again, that almost-familiar smile. "I am sorry. I suppose I should try to trust _you_. But please remember, I've only met you two days ago."

_And_, Kallen thought with embarrassment, he had every reason not to trust her. This was all her fault, really. If only she had not panicked, back on Kanime Island. Still, C.C. hardly deserved the same treatment: "I'm beginning to think you're afraid of C.C.."

He laughed; and that also sounded somewhere close to the laugh he'd had back in school; "Are you kidding? She's immortal and indestructible. She can turn a man's mind to blubber with a touch. She can read my mind… why the hell aren't _you_ afraid of her?"

Kallen laughed, feeling a tension fall away that she had not even realized plagued her. "What, _C.C.?_ she's completely _harmless_!"

**~~-L-~~**

Suppressing a sigh he laughed as well as he could at the girl's story. Despite her late start, Kallen was probably as far gone as any of these party-goers, and the sun had already risen _hours __ago_. Let it never be said that Japanese didn't know how to party. Personally, if he'd ever found the need to man an attack on this country, he would remember to do it on the morning after a national holiday. It was likely no-one would be able to even lift a rifle in defense on that day.

Easily, Lelouch allowed his gaze to trail back to the red-head that was in front of him. Cheeks lush with alcohol and smile a little too giddy… she really _was_ a looker. Too bad she wouldn't shut up. Casually, he refilled her glass from the bottle on their make-shift terrace table. "That was a hilarious story, Kallen. Why don't you tell me another one?"

Sadly, the girl complied. And it was another one of these stories about a Milly Ashford, who apparently bullied Lelouch and a whole other group of people into all sorts of weird situations at some school, where he and Kallen had supposedly both attended.

Well, apparently she was only half-Japanese, so he supposed it was theoretically possible. But he couldn't remember any of it, and he certainly couldn't picture it. Lelouch was pretty sure he made it a rule to shoot anyone who thought they could bully him. As a result, the only ones that got away with that were impervious to bullets.

But Kallen's stories did serve to make him feel decidedly ill. That was a bit of a strong reaction he supposed; perhaps it was just all this 'saké'. It tasted sweet, and seemed innocent enough until it reached the stomach. Yeah; that was likely it.

Another group of soldiers came by in a drunken stupor, and again they had to ask "Is it true? Is Zero back? Wasn't he executed?"

And again, Kallen replied, raising her glass, eyes shining, proclaiming; "You can't kill justice!"

"Isn't that right Lelouch?" she said softly when they had passed by, redoubling their efforts at celebrations.

_I wouldn't know. _But he just smiled thinly at her instead. Honestly, he could think of a million things he'd rather do than prance around in a mask and cape, like some stylized version of Batman. But he needed this girl right now. He needed both to derail her uncovering his little network of informants her support when he made his move on Todoh.

If all it took to earn this girls trust was to put on a stupid costume…. Honestly, the girl was so easy, he considered. Kallen must get taken advantage of a _lot._ All he had to do now was convince her to trust him long enough to close his net on their spy…

"As you say, my lady." He gave his best impression of a courteous bow without getting up.

She chuckled. "Easy now, boss! I see what you're doing. And I still haven't forgiven you for trying to make me kill myself."

Cue accidentally spilling over his half-empty glass in front of him. After dabbing some at it, with his gaze averted, he tried for the right tone. "Kallen, I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am about that. I was… awful."

She made a derisive sound somewhere between snort and a laugh, which Lelouch took to mean this was _exactly_ what she had wanted to hear, so he pressed the point further.

"Despicable; disgusting."

Kallen animatedly shook her head, only pausing for a quick sip of sake. "No, no. it's alright. You didn't know. And also, you apologized so let's forget about the whole thing."

He looked at her a moment, as if considering her offer. "You must know I did it only because I thought you were going to kill my little brother."

A blatant lie, as they would have tried to kill their target—and whoever accompanied her—even if they had come under the universal white flag and offered a peace-treaty. In fact, the only reason he had not made sure of her death before moving on was he had thought Rolo's fate sealed at the time.

Kallen's face dropped though. "Oh, Lelouch. I'm sorry, but he really isn't your brother."

It was the one statement that made it impossible to keep up his act. Lelouch sneered. "He _is_."

Sympathetic condensation was not an expression he had wanted to see in those blue, intoxicated eyes right now. "These emotions, they are commendable, and believe me I know how you feel; I had a brother, once. But you must understand: he and all those memories associated with him are fake."

_Understand like hell._ He should probably have just accepted that; but the need to prove her wrong was too strong. "You had a brother."

For once, the girl turned off her boisterous demeanor. "Yeah. Died as a resistance fighter."

"Parents…" Lelouch tried to make the question sympathetic, instead of accusing.

"Father and I never got along, especially after the divorce. Mother… she got involved with drugs. Now that we freed the country I don't think she will have to serve the full sentence, but she is still in rehab anyway."

Alright, he had to admit; that was pretty close to home. Still. "School? Friends?"

She chuckled mirthlessly. "School and friend were fun, but the truth is I was a spy when I was there; an insurgent. I can't honestly claim those people as my friends. But!" she perked up. "It's okay, because I have friends here, in the resistance; No! Japan's liberation army."

Lelouch grunted in understanding. "And that's it. These people, and the dream you share is the one thing you do have. And then is why you are such a great pilot; because everything becomes very simple when you only have one thing to fight for; one thing to live for." Slowly, he refilled her and then his glass. "Mother of miracles, maybe you do understand."

Kallen nodded wisely. "As I said, I had a brother too. We were very close."

He tried, really. But he could not help bursting out laughing.

She made it worse, pouting: "Are you _laughing_ at me?"

Then, Lelouch's phone rang. Or rather, the one he had acquired from one of his Geassed soldiers: seven all together now. He would have liked a few more, just for contingency plans, but it seemed that would not be needed. He supposed even he could get lucky sometimes. Lelouch closed the connection, faking a disconcerted expression. Then he waited for Kallen to catch on.

"I guess we got him." then offered her his tentative smile. The one that made her breath hitch. Really, she was too easy. "Will you help me with this?" he reached out a hand. "And can I trust you to stay quiet and do what I say until we have enough proof?"

Todoh was on the move; now if they could only catch him in the act.

**~~-T-~~**

Todoh felt only confused, as Oghi pulled the microphone from his hand. He didn't understand.

Kallen looked sad, betrayed. "I heard the whole thing." We were hiding under the table when he made the call."

Speaking such obviously pained her, but not as much as those words hurt him. He had no reason to be in the communications room. Especially as he had been there alone - or so Todoh had thought.

The boy Lelouch was there too. He only gave an apologetic shrug.

But why was Todoh on the radio? Who had he just been talking to? Why didn't he remember? Somehow, Tohdoh's own mind betrayed him, and he didn't know why.

_A spy!_

How could he be betraying this country, his country, that he loved so? It didn't make sense.

Nothing made sense, anymore.

**0000000000000**

**Took me a while, didn't it? But I am pretty happy with the results! Special thanks to dw77 and Magery for beta-ing!**

**Ps- Avian Reader called my attention to the fact that this fic is somewhat similar to Code Geass: Megiddo. Well, I guess that's actually quite the compliment, but it would be kind of useless to write this if it was actually the same. After reading the author's notes however I am almost positive this will turn out totally different then that fic. So, yay!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello all! Please read and enjoy; though this one was a b** to write, I hope it turned out ok.**

**Special thanks to Magery for Beta-reading; go check out his great fic 'Breath of Life'.**

**Warning: depressed and self-destructive behavior. Bad and offensive language. The need of portrayed character to offend their fellow humans does not coincide with the thought and ideas of writer and beta-reader. Thank you for your understanding!**

**Welp, back to funny stuff; writing some Gambit for me ;) hmm.. or I can just finish the next FW; that one is almost done, because actually it's all of the stuff that I had to cut out and move to the next chapter! (Long chapter is already long.)**

**~~-CC-~~**

Despite herself, C.C. shivered. Lelouch seemed in high spirits though, looking over the holding capsule and fiddling with the controls. It had been on one of the trucks they have confiscated from the Order's soldiers. There had also been three knightmares and a payload of other equipment. It only served to prove what C.C. already knew: V.V. still meant to capture her. To make her cooperate with their sword of Akasha.

"It's a confinement capsule." She explained as he disappeared inside it.

He sprang up over the edge of that open sphere, his expression more than his mind telling her he had already figured out that much. Then, he leaned his arms over the controls in a casual gesture. "C.C., would you do something for me?"

Hackles rose on the back of her neck. "What?"

"Would you get inside, just for a minute?"

C.C. rubbed her arms. She was not usually this sensitive to cold. "I already spent the better half of a decade in one of these things. I assure you, I cannot get out on my own."

He whispered, mirroring her words, then shrugged and disappeared from view again. The look on his face before his face disappeared from view was entirely too happy for the witch's comfort.

"Does it please you?" she asked after a minute. "To know that I fear this?"

It took a while before he came back up, giving her a long stare before answering. "I suppose it does. It's comforting to know that even those that cannot die can feel fear."

C.C. chuckled mirthlessly. "Whoever said I cannot die?" That got his _undivided _attention. "I can. It just takes a developed Geass user willing to take my curse."

"I can take it from you?" C.C. supposed she should have expected that hungry undertone. But it was still unnerving coming from _him_. Would she ever see her warlock again? He seemed so far removed from this man; that boy that had consoled her in her weakest hours was more of a polar opposite to this man's sadistic need for revenge.

"No. I have to willingly _give_ it. And _you_ would have to willingly accept." The old witch found her hesitating over her next question. Not because she doubted the answer, but because she did not want to hear it. "Would you?"

He seemed taken by the idea. "Miss…, if you'd let me, I'll kill you and your entire family_. Would you?_"

C.C. chuckled. "That would make it two immortal bastards against the world. It would be rather selfish of me to accept."

"No, it would be two immortal bastards against _each other_. And I think I have the moral high-ground here, with all the wrongs the… V.V. did."

"He started out pretty good though." C.C. replied, wistfully. "Just him and Charles: two brothers, trying to right the world. They were close, once; probably closer than you and Rolo."

His sneer made her realize her mistake. "You will not compare us to that _freak_."

She was still coming up with a good apology when the boy C.C. _truly_ considered the freak came back: "Mistress, I feel I need to talk to brother now." He gave her an apologetic smile. "Alone."

**~~-L-~~**

"How refined…" Lelouch pointed out, picking up the dead man's arm. It was close to black, and blood seeped from the fingernails. Most discerning was the fact that there was little in the form of bones left in the limb – it felt more like a piece of sausage. The sausage made a disheartening grinding sound as he shook it for emphasis. Oghi had the good grace to flinch from the scene, and the pair of young soldiers at the door actually looked sick.

The interrogator that had been responsible for this rather disgusting predicament seemed untroubled, however. "That shouldn't have killed him. And I hadn't even started on the others yet. They all just sort of… dropped dead."

Lelouch nearly laughed out loud, shooting his 'brother' a glare. "Poison capsules. Probably standard issue, with the Order."

His younger brother-_hah! Not-brother_!-had the grace to look guilty. "Sorry, broth-... I never needed them since I can stop my heart any time I wish to, in the event of capture. You…"

_I was apparently already past the event of capture._

Lelouch had stood numb after his brother had come up to him and told him his life story: a story in which Lelouch had not even _featured_ until a year ago. And even then, Lelouch had only been the object of a _mission._ His target, to keep a close eye on: to keep in line. Lelouch had still been in an incoherent daze when Oghi had rushed by, taking him by the arm. Apparently, the Japanese resistance-fighter had realized the need for their two turn-coat just a_ little _late.

He needed air; had to leave. At the doorway Lelouch turned back though; to sneer at Oghi: "Maybe next time the _kind sirs_ would think to enlist my services before all that's left to question is a pile of dead meat and bone fragments."

As he stormed out, inspiration hit: he could not stand to see any of these party-goers; not now. As news of Todoh's betrayal was not public yet, spirits were still high. Even if this was the night _after _the victory party. Lelouch wanted no part of it; he wanted air. The best place for that was always up, to the roof. Storming up the stairs seemed only natural; the need to force the door only promised privacy.

It was cold, up here: cold and quiet and completely dark. Only now and then did a loud voice manage to drift up, to this open fourth floor. There was absolutely no wind, but the air felt a little moist. It was perfect. Lelouch found himself a corner hidden from view if anyone should walk through that now-open door, and laid down on the stone tiles. Then, he pressed a hand to his eyes hard, hoping to counter the pressure building up.

Everything was a mess. He felt like the last foundation he'd built what little he had on had just been swiped away, finally, ruthlessly. His entire purpose was built on lies: a simple manipulation to have him do exactly what that little immortal brat wanted of him. And he had never even suspected… no, that wasn't true. He had _suspected_. Proof had stared him in the face from the start, though Lelouch had at the time not known that the day he woke up in the Order's hospital's ward was the beginning of _anything_. But despite all conclusive evidence building up since that day, he had simply refused to believe. Until now. He had no_ choice_ but to believe now.

The disturbing feeling making his way up through his throat intensified when Lelouch remembered where he had last put that hand - the hand he now had pressed to his face. _A shattered sausage that had once been…_ He sat up to the side quickly, using that other hand to push over his mouth and swallow down whatever had though to come up. By virtue of sheer pigheadedness, it worked. Thought he got himself a teary-eye coughing fit for his troubles.

That's when a voice called out to him, and he knew he had given his position away. Oh, and he really didn't want to talk to this sappy-hardboiled _weird_ girl at all.

**~~-K-~~**

"Lelouch? Is that you?"

The coughing had stopped when she called out the first time. But it remained quiet a while after her second inquiry.

"No." Then a tired sigh. "How did you find me? Did C.C….?"

Kallen scoffed at that, hesitantly making her way over in the dark. "Really, do you think so little of me? No, you always had a penchant for sneaking off at school. And if you were not off of school ground altogether, you ended up on the roof pretty often."

He was somewhere down on the floor it seemed; sitting or lounging or whatever guys did on rooftops in the cold. He also sounded pretty upset she'd interrupted that _whatever_. "What did you want, Kallen..?"

His behavior confused the ace Knightmare pilot, these days. The man she used to know was logical, if perhaps not predictable. This Lelouch seemed to jump across the spectrum from murderous to chivalrous and back. When Kallen had finally found a few minutes to review his actions, this afternoon, she had come across an alarming theory: "I have to know." Well, she would rather hear she was wrong, but… "Did you cast a Geass on Todoh?"

Again, he did that thing where he almost seemed to shift gears, posture adapting with his voice-pitch. He seemed… wounded by her suggestion: "Oh, _that's _right. I have to trust _you_, but it's fine to doubt me. Oh, you're right, Todoh was Geassed, obviously. But what makes you think_ I_ would be the one to do it? Do I have to remind you that the man was a prisoner of Britannia for _months?_"

She felt the need to defend herself: "Well, it is what your ability does; and it did seem like you knew Todoh was the one…"

He cut through her, leaving Kallen to sputter: "Yeah; newsflash, I was _hardly_ irreplaceable to the Order. After all, they did dangle me as mere bait. They probably have ten other kids with a power like mine. I did suspected Todoh, as he had been captured; and I knew someone had been Geassed around the time that he was imprisoned. But I hardly knew."

Left feeling stupid, Kallen mumbled an apology.

"It's _fine_, really." Why did his casual tone just sound like he was to rubbing it in? "I'm _used_ to it. Are we done now?"

And that was it; dismissed. It didn't seem fair. Had they not had a good time only this morning? Had they not rediscovered the friendly camaraderie they had had as Zero and Q1? "Did something happen?"

As soon as she had said it, Kallen realized it was a ridiculous question. So _much_ had happened in the last twenty-four hours, it was almost impossible to comprehend. The world had turned into a whirlwind; a typhoon right from the moment they had recovered the Black King of their revolution. It was amazing; perfect. Even better than the first time around. '_Is something wrong?'_ would have been a better question. Or maybe: 'A_re you angry with me?'_

She wondered if she was just imagining things; surely, this was a time for celebration? Yes; what had happened to Todoh was sad. But still, they were _winning_ now, right? Zero had never quaffed over a few sacrifices, and she doubted even this would bother him overly much. What could be wrong?

"It's all a _mess_, Kallen. A complete, _utter_ ruin."

Kallen let out a slow hiss of breath. Not sure of what to say, the ace opted for sitting down next to Lelouch's silhouette. However, the moment she laid back on her elbows, he shot up to a sit. He offered nothing more in the way of words.

It slowly became clear she would have to break this awkward silence. "It's not all bad, surely. Look what you've accomplished in just a few days! It's sad it had to be Todoh, but you've uncovered our spy. You've captured a whole Order infiltration unit. And, best of all, Japan has been liberated."

He answered her with a sarcastic laugh. "You are listing successes, but they mean little to me. I see no reason why I should be rooting for Japan here. In fact, as I _am_ Britannian, it should count as a fact that I should want _Britannia_ winning, lest I find our nationality replaced by a number to continue our existence under a Japanese boot instead."

"Lelouch…" Again, his words greatly confused the half-blood. "You _hate_ Britannia. You want to destroy it."

"I do; but why would I work to replace one tyrant with another? Why would Japan be any better anyway?"

Her national pride was called in question here. "But we _are_ better than Britannia."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Britannia fights for itself; to lord itself over others. We fight for our freedom."

"Freedom huh? What does that _mean_ anyway?" There were not many stars out; Kallen didn't understand why he kept looking up at them. The back of his head gave little indication of emotions and his tone was flat. "I've been trying to force my freedom down the throat of another, because I thought I knew what was good for him. Turns out though, I don't know _anything_."

It seemed there had been a subject change; and Kallen had apparently missed the naming. It seemed rude to ask, so she kept her comments shallow. "Let's say freedom is the opposite of oppression and abuse of power then, shall we? You can recognize those easy, and as such, it becomes clear which side you should be on."

"Perhaps…" It seemed she had said something true; Lelouch was quiet for a while, head in hands. "So what do you think of my little brother?"

"He is _not_ your brother, and he is a _scary_ little creep. But…" Kallen had to admit. "He hasn't done anything wrong _yet_, and he does seem to care for you."

Lelouch grunted at that, and stayed still for another while. When he spoke, they had returned to their first subject: "But then, what will happen if, by some miracle, you win this war, and Britannia will lose so completely they will never threaten your country again? Will you take her place? Will Japan continue on and subjugate the world?"

Kallen was aghast. "Of course not. We will have peace."

He pressed on, his wry tone suggesting she was giving all the answers he was expecting. "Then will you move for disarmament? Will you try for a world _without_ violence and weapons of mass destruction?"

"Of course..?" She didn't really understand where he was going, and he just turned back to regard the sky, withholding even the few visual clues his face would have provided.

His next question was a little too casual "And what would you do with your _human_ weapons?"

Confused, Kallen followed his gaze, up into the sky. Her breath caught in understanding only when she looked down: he had turned to face her, the eyepatch pulled away to reveal that unnaturally red eye. In the dark, it seemed to have a luminescence on its own. Liquid ran from the eye, the reflection turning it to a disheartening bleeding red.

His expression might have been sad, but his tone was hard: "You are wrong about Rolo, you know. He'll give you his best until his Geass becomes permanent and stops his heart. And then he'll use his last remaining breath to thank you all for your _kindness_." Kallen was starting to hate it when he laughed at things that were obviously not funny. "Me, I intend to at least leave a mess."

"Right." Kallen wasn't getting anywhere with this. Boldly, she grabbed for his wrist. "Come on with me, emo-boy, before you make your _mess _on the sidewalk _four floors down_."

**~~-CC-~~**

"C.C.!"

The tall red-head came striding up to her with a rather disheveled looking Lelouch in tow. He was muttering something about the girl better releasing his arm right now, but the death threats lacked any real strength. He also looked like he had been crying.

"Emergency clubbing, right now." Kallen's eyes traveled past Rolo, where he was trying to be unobtrusive while remaining in the witch's presence. As usual. But no irritation showed, and Kallen didn't even miss a beat. "Bring the brother. The more the merrier."

The immortal sighed to herself; well, she had pretty much given up on losing her shadow by now anyway. Feeling mischievous, she hooked arms with the boy agent. "Tell me, Rolo. Have you ever been on a date? With a _girl_?"

Predictably, the boy froze. Like he had just been touched by a holy butterfly and was afraid to break its wings by moving. His answer did surprise her:

"Once."

**~~-L-~~**

The night was _awful_. Both girls chattered merrily, trying their damndest to cheer him up. Even Rolo seemed set on having a good time. Though that was likely because C.C. had suggested he should. Damn boy would cut off his own fingers if the girl-immortal mistakenly said he had too many.

It wasn't working, of course, but Lelouch didn't really have the energy to object. So he let them drag him from bar to party to dance-club, thankfully accepting any drink they gave him and downing everything as fast as he could. In any other situation, Lelouch would have been more careful to take too much alcohol, for fear of someone getting the chance to stick a knife in his back due to dulled reflexes. Today however… well, he never got what he wished for anyway.

Kallen seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to trouble, and she was famous enough to make it hard for him to get into _any_ trouble _at all_. Every time Lelouch found himself a group of guys looking sleazy enough to stick a knife in him, the girl managed to drag him off before he managed to insult them into a provocation. She seemed to be getting tired of it though.

"Lelouch." the girl hissed over the music. "Next time if you want to ask a guy if he isn't _too tall_ to be an _'Eleven'_… -Oh. My. God."

Kallen seemed in shock. "I… didn't think Rolo would know how to dance."

Lelouch looked around uninterestedly before finding his fake brother with the immortal. Indeed, they were on the dance floor. And he could only agree with Kallen. It was quite shocking to see him move like that. "He doesn't. He's copying C.C.."

Who was, by all accounts, a very good dancer. Somehow, it didn't seem quite right when Rolo did it though. It seemed odd to Lelouch; his copying was close to perfect; only his arm in the sling didn't dance along.

"Ah," Kallen seemed as perplex as he felt. "So he does…" she cleared her throat. "You need to explain to him before some _guy_ hits on him and gets his throat cut."

He found himself blinking at Kallen a few times. "Ah. _Ooh_."

**~~-R-~~**

"Stop laughing at me!" Rolo exclaimed half-heartedly. Though honestly, he was happy to see his brother laugh at all. "And anyway, why'd you have to go and say _that_. Now what are we going to do?"

Lelouch was still doubled over in the alley, arms pressed to his stomach. His breath came in puffs of white smoke in the dark. "Sorry. Sorry. It's just that the first guy I find willing to lift a fist had to be a fag."

"They won't let us in anymore now." Rolo deduced. "What will mistress C.C. think?"

The older brother had found himself a wall to lean against, feeling at his lip and squinting at his fingers in the dark. "Why don't you ask your mistress yourself?"

Right on cue, the back door the brothers had just been ushered out of banged open once again. And the boy-agent found he should not have worried: the mistress seemed in good spirits; in fact Rolo was even tempted to think she was highly amused. "That was the most _romantic_ thing I have ever witnessed. Mind you Rolo, that was sarcasm."

"Thank you, mistress." He said demurely. Which was probably a mistake, because the goddess gave him that blank look; the one he had already learned to associate with a scowl.

It was his brother that came to his rescue: "Translation for Rolo: I don't actually know what _sarcasm_ means, but if you think watching guys hit each other is romantic, I can do that no problem."

Well, maybe not _rescue._ But at least his constant jibes were amusing to the goddess. That in itself was worth something; also, she had made it quite clear she didn't want any more fighting between 'brothers'.

"Ho, I did not mean _that_ part."C.C. called out, eyes challenging. "I meant the whole: '_He's mine; unless you want to fight me for him.' business._"

"And he did. Hey, how come _we_ got thrown out and not him?" Lelouch was addressing the now-closed back entrance, practically screaming from the top of his lungs: "That's a clear-cut case of-…"

_Hold; just hold it there_. Rolo could feel his brother's provocations of the powers that be coming from a mile away too, by now. He stopped time with his Geass, muffling his brother's next words by taking his head in an elbow grapple: "rrrzzzsmm."

Rolo didn't bother holding on after that; he had promised not to fight anymore, after all.

What he _hadn't_ expected was to become the target of his brother's anger. Lelouch turned to twist out of the chokehold, only to push his younger brother back against a wall.

There was something wrong here; his elder brother might have fought him in the past, but that had usually been out of sheer desperation, or when Rolo stepped in between an already progressed fight. This was different; there was a mad gleam in the fake agent's eye that was intent on Rolo: "And _you!_ Where the _hell_ do you think you get the right from to stop me speaking my mind? You're not even my _real_ brother. Don't you _ever dare_ try telling me what to do again!"

The younger man was stunned to silence for a moment before he felt a flame in his own chest ignite at those words. It filled his gut with cold anger: "Now wait a minute. I may not be related to you by _blood_, and it may have been my mission, but I have _always_ protected you. I have _always_ stuck my neck out for you…!"

"That's funny, because from where I'm standing it looks a lot more like you've been _manipulating _me."

Somewhere far off, Rolo could hear C.C. coax them to stop; coax Lelouch to let his brother go. Down perhaps; Rolo wasn't even sure his feet were still touching the ground. Rolo was confident he could win; even with only one arm. But he had promised not to fight.

Besides, this argument seemed infinitely more important. "No: manipulation is _your_ forte, _Zero_. Surely you know _that_ much. And just because it was my job to get you to cooperate hardly puts me in charge of anything, you know that. Do you even realize all the times I had to stand in or apologize for you?

"Just one instance: when you decided not to do any track running for five days straight, I had to _beg_ Farray to give me one more day to talk you around. _Beg_, literally, _on my knees;_ because Farray had already got his _jeep_ out and had decided to just _tie_ you to the back of it and run _that_ around the laps instead. _I saved your life_, Lelouch. More times then I'd like to _count_."

"That's beautiful, Rolo. Very touching! It brings tears to my eyes, really." Although Rolo couldn't even make out Lelouch's eye, as his big brother kept his head down; bangs obscuring his free eye. "But you forget one, teeny _tiny_ detail." For a moment, Rolo thought he'd be released and placed back to his feet. But then his back hit the wall again. "I."

Forward, and again, rammed to the wall. "Didn't."

Again. "Want."

Rolo's ears were ringing now. "To."

But he had promised. "Be."

He had promised to a god. "Saved."

The beating stopped. Rolo thought he might be bleeding. _No_; he was pretty sure his skull was cracked. There was a whisper; he thought it was: _"Not like this."_

Then, a strong, cold voice cut through the night; it was his goddess, like he had never heard her before. "Lelouch. I do not _want_ to do this, but if you do not let him go right now, I _will_ touch you. And I doubt that would be pleasant for either of us."

Then, he was staggering to the floor; helped along through the dark and silent alleyways by _her_. And she had saved him. Praise be! The goddess had come to his rescue.

**~~-L-~~**

"Just stay here." The witch had cautioned. "Kallen will be right out."

Like he _cared._

But he was too tired and too drunk to go find his way, so he waited, hoping against hope the redhead would forget about this whole evening and go home out the front, preferable accompanied by some handsome guy in a somewhat better mental state then he was.

Sadly, it was not meant to be. Only a few minutes later, the doors burst open again to give way to the fiery ace. She offered another bout of apologies to whoever had opened said doors for her, probably the bouncers, and then stood blinking at the dark when the doors were closed.

"Where did C.C. and her stalker-boy go?"

"Where everyone in there sane mind _would,_ Kallen." He really was drunk, if he was giving answers faster than he could think them. "As far away from_ me_ as possible."

The half-blood sighed, walking over to lean against the same wall Lelouch must have decided to slide down on to sit down. "This was supposed to cheer you up, you know."

He could only grunt to that. Well, he _had_ said he didn't _want_ to go. And how was he ever supposed to have a good time with an immortal not-god breathing down his neck and a backstabbing fake brother at his side? Did Rolo even understand how far he'd _bent_ for him? No; that was unfair. He knew. And he had repaid Lelouch with the same kindness: with something the other didn't need nor want at great personal expense. None of that could ease the burden he now felt had been dropped squarely on his shoulders. "Can I ask you some questions, Kallen?"

The girl slid down to a sit in answer, shrugging lightly.

He took a breath; "If I am… really," then grimaced. He couldn't really persist in lying to himself. As much as he wanted to. "Why do you all follow _Zero_, when he is just another Britannian brat with a power fetish?"

The shadow beside him let out a breath that suggested she was not happy with that question at all; but after a moment, she deigned to answer it anyway: "Lelouch, first of all, _Zero_ is not a power hungry brat. He _-you-_ chose to fight Britannia because it's right to do so. Because the strong should _protect_ the weak, not _abuse_ them.

Second, only I and C.C. know you are Zero; and I suggest we keep it that way for now. You are right about that: no Japanese with a scrap of pride left would ever willingly follow a Britannian; not after the last eight years.

Thirdly, we need Zero because you have perhaps the greatest tactical mind of our time. _Only you_ could have thought up the battle we have just won, making use of our _one_ strength over our enemies: our abundant supplies of Sakuradite. _Only you_ could have predicted our enemy as easily as you did and _only you_ could have done the basic calculations to suggest this was possible at all. And when Britannia stops messing around and sends Prime Minister Schneizel and the main army to reclaim our lands, _only you_ will be able to stand on par with him and defend our country."

Lelouch found himself squinting at the dark; only with the second point he could agree. Though he thought it might not be practical nor beneficial to himself to hide his identity to _everyone_.

The third point he found a little harder to believe; he had certainly never felt exceedingly smart in the Order's classes. He'd been lagging and playing catch-up at every turn. But then, it would seem his teachers had simply put him in the graduation class without ever running him past their curriculum. All the same: surely, any grunt with a pencil could have done what he had in their last battle? Surely, stupidity to the point of throwing you men away in brain-stumped charges was an idiocy reserved for the higher classes?

As for Kallen's first point; it was beyond ridiculous. If he had _indeed_ been a Britannian at a high-society school like Ashford's he had little to no reason to rebel _at all_: men did not risk their lives because they got a too big a slice of the cake of live. They rebelled because they got _too little_, or none at all: because they were starving or dying anyway. Even the greatest philanthropist would at best give away what he had too much of to the needy; Lelouch could never see such a person bothering with inciting rebellion. And Lelouch doubted he had _ever_ been that good.

Still, none of such musings did anything to undermine that cold, underlying truth: He _hated_ Britannia, for casting him and his brother aside like little more than garbage. But it seemed he had been the one to cast Britannia aside first.

He hated the order for taking them in, and turning them into soldiers; forcing them to fight without any regard to their personal wishes. But obviously, as Zero, he had made the same choice for countless others, as Japan could now only house those that were willing to fight - any and all Honorary Britannians had long been cast out along with the true Britannians.

And he hated his peers, because they had meekly obeyed their masters, without even trying to fight back. But now it turned out, he was the _only one_ who truly deserved the hate; the only one there who had been a criminal before being inducted. No, it was he that had meekly submitted; within less than a year! All the other agents had had years of reprogramming before they had come along as far as he had.

Still, none of that mattered now. There was only one thing he needed to know. "And why… would I fight _again_?"

To that, she had an answer that was obviously well-reversed: "To finish what you started, of course! Don't you remember? You said we can't stop now, because of the sacrifices made already. We must move forward. If we stop now, all those death would become meaningless."

_A meaningful death: what a concept!_ Well, you had to admire her righteous determination, at the very least. "Whatever happened to 'It's never too late to learn from your mistakes'?"

"Nothing we did was a mistake." she proclaimed it. Her tone brooked no argument.

Lelouch wasn't so sure, but he _had_ come far, it seemed. For as much as he racked his brain, he could see no path but the one ahead of him. Yes: he could still see his way out of this. As for turning back; truly turning back and following his own footsteps, he could not imagine the road ahead getting _that_ bad.

So he sighed, turning over to study her silhouette. "Is that what you want then, to move ahead?"

"Of course."

"No matter the price you've paid up until this moment, no matter what price must still be paid?"

"For my country's freedom." she amended.

It really was the only way; he still had a brother to free. Blood didn't matter. Memories didn't matter. Rolo had abandoned the Order for _him_; maybe not willingly, but it would still be a death sentence. The irony was that Lelouch would repay his brother for his 'protection' by shoving a freedom down his neck that he didn't need, nor care for either. But even a cold-blooded bastard like himself needed more of a life's purpose than simple spite.

Besides, he'd be giving these people what they wanted.-maybe even what Japan deserve, after their prolonged suffering.

Lelouch made his voice light. "Well, then I have just the way for us to go." He got up, dusted himself off. "If this works out, Japan will be yours and safe from Britannia for all of time."

It would come at the cost of their souls, but nobody here seemed to be using them.


	16. Chapter 16

**Special thanks to KiKi Hayashi, for beta-ing for me while Magery has to do exams. G'luck Magery ;) **

**~~-K-~~**

"Three… two… one." Diethard voice was almost gleeful. "And, you're on!"

The broadcast preview showed Zero, centered from the chest up, looking very much like… Zero. Simultaneous as a live-broadcast should be, he appeared on TV's everywhere within the Japanese military, for such was Diethard's influence. In the barracks and mess halls, soldiers everywhere ran to their closest TV's or were called inside by comrades; this was important! And the Japanese that took in the sight exploded in excited murmurs. _He was back._ Of course he was_. So much for getting executed._ But was this even the same man? Of course; how could anyone doubt, after that sudden, decisive victory. _You can't kill justice._

That's what the Black Knights had said.

_You can't kill justice. _

That's what Kallen had said _herself_. And at the time, she had meant it.

However…Right now, looking at his unmoving shape on the preview screen, that shiver of doubt that had taken hold only grew by the passing, silent, second. It made itself known as a lump in her throat that she tried to swallow away. And she found herself thinking back, to just an hour ago, when she had got him his costume at his request.

A soft click of heels on velum was all that announced his return to the room, and Kallen turned back to hand Zero his mask. The illusion was perfect right up to the white puffy cravats; with the clingy all-black, gold accented outfit making him look taller then he actually was, and his rather un-Zero like stiff stance only suggesting resolve. Above, it all fell apart though: Lelouch's mouth was set to a thin line, and his one open eye was a little too wide. The Geass eye he had covered with the eye patch still, although he knew perfectly well the Knightmare ace was now immune to its effects.

Kallen held the mask in a pose of victory, but she was beginning to think that was a mistake.

Lelouch cleared his throat. "So… How does Zero talk?"

The question took her aback. He didn't know? Then why would Lelouch-someone who usually meticulously planned-just make her pull this together on a few hours' notice? Then again, if _Zero _thought there was reason to hurry, there would be. Kallen thought it over: Lelouch had been her classmate. But Zero had been something more… something she could not really define. It was like…

"Think… Royalty," she decided after a long time. "Royalty playing opera."

He gave her a doubtful squint, and Kallen could not help but blush a little.

"Are you trying to have me make a fool out of myself?" he finally accused.

That went against Kallen's nature: "Zero is _not _a fool. He is simply… dramatic."

With a grunt, Zero accepted his old mask and held it in one hand, arm outstretched. Looking at it like it was a particular ugly piece of road kill. But suddenly Kallen gasped, noticing, "Wait. Where's your cape?"

"You mean that curtain you used to bundle the whole thing up in?" his eyebrow twitched. "You're _joking_, right?"

Still, he stood silently, and Kallen worried; People looking at the image everywhere had quieted down, to listen to this symbol; but still that personification of justice simply stood there, unmoving. Some of the less patient spectators started asking if they were not simply looking at a photo, or an old looped recording. Then, finally, Zero's voice rang out as clear and just as it had always.

"My fellow warriors, I return to you once more. For us, together to put a final end to the injustice that plagues this world."

There was another pause, but this time no one watching broke it, and a slight tilt of the mask. "Tonight, we will cut out both of the two main embodiments of evil in this world. First, we will cut the head off this snake called Britannia. Second, we will end this plague known as the Order.

"This second threat is of a new and different kind to you, for few of you have come into contact with it until now. But know that it is a vile and corrupt organization. I will warn you; the Order is a religious group that conducts heinous experiments on its own children. Further, each and every one of their followers are brainwashed beyond repair. The Order even uses those that survive these horrid experiments as brain-washed child-soldiers and assassins.

"Today, you shall need your resolve. For this evil must be slain. You will need to destroy the fruits of their experiments, and those responsible for conducting them. You will need to kill these corrupted children, and the doctor Frankenstein's that created them. You will need to root this organization out entirely, end every man woman and child with them.

"What I ask you to do today may seem wrong, but it is justice and a mercy. My warriors stand strong, and by tomorrow, both this injustice and that of the Empire of Britannia itself will have been cleansed from this earth. And Japan will be safe."

**~~-L-~~**

Lelouch, still as Zero, swept out of the media room as soon as he was done, ignoring that weird Britannian with the ponytail's speculative glances. _Dieter? Diehar?_ Whatever; scary guy. Kallen quickly took his side as they swept through the corridors, that dramatic red and black cape flaring after him. It would be the first to go, as soon as he was out of public view. Whatever was the point of wearing unobtrusive black if you were setting yourself up to stick out like a sore thumb anyway? Well, probably set up to stick out like a banner for revolution.

Lelouch could understand the concept, but understanding did little to ease his nerve. The ex-agent knew exactly what usually happened to those that drew more attention to themselves than needed, and by the stares he was getting he was calling a _lot _of attention. Still, he had no time to worry about that now; he had to keep the momentum going.

Without turning his mask, Lelouch addressed the girl-warrior moving astride with him. "Did you call the meeting?"

She startled, as if her thoughts had been elsewhere. "Of course. Look, about your speech..."

He almost missed a step. Had he messed up that bad? "Was it too short?"

"Nah, no. Well, maybe a little. And there could have been a bit more flurrying with the cape, maybe a hand-gesture." She hesitated. "But what are you asking us to do, exactly?"

"Kallen, you trust me, right?" he cut in, stopping to make his voice intent on her. She assented.

"And you want to keep and protect Japan, right?" Again, a nod.

"Then, this needs to be done."

He kept the mask fixed on her, though his mind was already racing. Had he miscalculated? He had thought it better to tell these men something, before they went into battle: something to quiet their conscience, if only to reduce the chances of them balking when they faced a bunch of children at the end of their guns. It wasn't just a tale either; it was based on the truth. A simplified and overly black-and-white version of the truth, but he had thought it would motivate these men to do this dirty deed.

But if even _Kallen _had qualms; Kallen who called herself his one true supporter at all times…. Well, he hardly needed these men to think past the return of Zero then. "Could you please give the men the command to scramble and prepare for battle immediately?"

The girl nodded, as if understanding, yet did not move. One arm crossed, holding the other at the elbow, she looked away. Perhaps she did understand, a little too well.

He pushed on. "After that, please brief the- C.C. and Rolo for me."

She twitched. "Lelouch… I can slow them down, but I cannot keep C.C. away. She _will_ want to talk."

Oh, yeah. Kallen understood entirely too well. "Then slow her down." He conceded, as gracefully as he could. And continued, to ensure her loyalty; made his voice as friendly as he could. "Kallen… _trust me_. By tomorrow this will all be over, and you'll be living your dream."

He had been telling himself the same thing all day; hopefully it would work better on her.

Seated around the table were the top men of the Black Knights. The noises in the room were those of general discontent anger, but as he swept the door open and continued fluidly to the head of the table they raised in volume to barely contained rage. A TV in the far wall still showed the empty stage Lelouch had just left; they too had seen his little show. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Are you really Zero?"

"If so, where have you been all this time?"

'Zero' ignored them all, he freed himself of the damned cloak and let it drop behind him. The continued on to his seat, to sit back with one leg crossed over the other in what he hoped looked like a relaxed pose. The mask seemed to be doing its job, because after a few moments of turning that empty stare at the men, they quieted down. Finally, he asked in a voice filled with accusation, "_Kallen_ called this meeting in Zero's name; did she not? Or are you calling her a liar too?"

Oghi grunted. "Very well; but then: when did you get back? How can you not be dead?"

Behind his mask, Lelouch allowed himself a small smile. "Did not C.C. and Kallen say they were going to retrieve me? They did."

Oghi's eyes widened in realization, but it was Tamaki that took notice of the other fact: "And where _are_ the two of them, now?"

"I have already briefed them on their mission. And this is something I would rather spare the more… delicate ears." With Chiba too distraught to addend because of Tohdoh's arrest, delicate sears equaled _woman's ears_. It was an idea that seemed to stroke male pride, and a few of the knights nodded gravely.

"Now, what I have to discuss with you concerns in equal measures the mission and myself." Putting one hand in front of the mask and one reaching for the back clasp, he ignored their collective intake of breath. "As I suppose most of you have guessed my identity by now…"

If these men had been offended by the presence of a masked man, seeing his face _enraged_ them. There was a certain irony there, but Lelouch did know this was hardly the time to be smirking at private jokes.

Tamaki even pulled out his gun, aimed it at him. "You…"

It was Oghi again, that put into words what the others could not. "You cannot expect us to believe _you_ are Zero."

Lelouch judged it save enough to smile, thinly. "That is exactly what _I_ said. But Kallen and C.C. have both assured me that I am - or was- Zero. And as I have no dependable memories beyond a year old, I have little choice but to take their word for it."

There was quite a bit of cursing after that. "Why would a Brittannian boy become Zero?"

That was his cue. "As said, I don't honestly know. But I can make an educated guess. I don't believe I've ever shown any of you my eye?"

As he reached up, however, he found his hand restrained, and the barrel of Oghi's weapon poked into his face. "Don't try it. I know you have some kind of unholy power…"

"So I do. Thank you for the warning. Please, everyone keep your visors down, as I am hardly in control of my curse."

That seemed to placate the man; indeed, if Oghi knew that much, he would have also heard of the need for eye contact. Finally, Lelouch pulled his left eye free, to the startled gasps of his audience. He imagined he made quite the scene, with that blazing red eye. The added stitching and bruising still visible from his close encounter that night Rolo got wounded would only accredit his story.

"Pretty isn't it? I got this out of the experiments the Order did on me. The eye allows me a power to get the truth out of anyone I order to speak it. All the Order's Agents have such a power. In fact," and Lelouch paused for dramatic effect here. "It seems quite certain that a power like this is what forced Toudoh to betray you."

There was another round of angry voices at that; but the anger was no longer directed at the man in front of them.

"Is that even possible?" Oghi asked at long last.

"Oh yes. The power to alter memories, the power to bend wills, to stop time, and many, many more. Those are the powers the Order instills on its children; little orphans no one wants. And then, they brainwash them and force them into service as mindless killers."

Another of the Black Knights spoke up; worried. "Zero performed miracles in the past. Did you have this power back then too?"

"As I said, I have no memories of that time, so I cannot honestly say."

He did _not_ know, but he could guess. And his best guess was not in alignment to what he was about to tell these people. This was the true primary reason he had not wanted C.C. or Kallen here. The last thing he needed was someone to put him straight on the horrendous picture he was painting here. Nor would he have needed Rolo, who would have definitely felt the need to curb his overstatements about the Order's evil.

Just the saddest hint of a smile was enough; "I only know I woke up one day, apparently after suffering some injury, in the Order's ward. When I woke, I already had the eye. It is possible that at the time I became Zero, I was already an escapee of the Order, and they simply felt it better to wipe my memory when they took me back. Or perhaps it was a punishment for one of their own taking up arms against Britannia; I simply do not know, because all my knowledge from before that day is, quite obviously, fake. I do, however, know that I was something of an example.

"I know I tried to kill myself and failed every time. I know I tried to take up arms against my handlers, but found myself bested at every turn. I know I tried to escape… keh." Surreptitiously, he looked around the room. Some looked disgusted, some confused. But then he really didn't need to convince them all the way; just far enough for them to agree with his proposal…

"Tonight, you will end this travesty of a religion; and I and my brother will end the Royal family of Britannia. When this is done, you will find me a surgeon to remove me and my brother's Geassed eye."

Losing the eye might even safe his brother's life. As for him, one eye he hardly ever used was well worth the price of freedom. It would not stop his curse, as it was already unstable. And when it would finally reach his other eye Lelouch would just Geass everyone that came too close to forget about the matter. Hhim and Rolo would be out; out of this bloody business and free to do as they pleased.

"And with that, both the abominations of government and of religion will be wiped away. Your country will be safe. All that will be left is the matter of our payment."

"Payment?" Oghi echoed, confused.

He nodded, gesturing at himself. "For services rendered and damages taken. I want a Japanese nationality for me and my brother. I want a quiet farm out of the way to live at. And I want us to be left alone; especially by that green-haired witch. No, I want a _restraining order_ dictating she is not allowed nearer then ten kilometers from us."

The one called Tamaki laughed. "What's the matter, Zero? You two had a lover's quarrel?"

Lelouch just shook his head, because the very idea of that... Whatever. The demand should serve to show he had no intention of continuing this farce to be their leader; something they honestly would not want, now that they knew what he was. It was also, all that he truly dreamed of: By tomorrow, he and Rolo would be out, safe and free. Free from immortals and their petty games…

"Lelouch!"

If only it could have been tomorrow already, instead of little more than an hour later.

The witch was striding towards him with a determined swing. It didn't bode well. A stupid little Christmas hat adorned her head, white pumpkin swinging behind her. She stopped, a little closer then he would have liked. "Can I have a word with you about your… plan?"

"Muh," he commented, trying to ignore the not-god. Just trying to continue on checking over their Vincent, one they had managed to salvage from the beach battle. He wondered where Rolo had gone; if he had been there with her, Lelouch thought he might have a chance to just up and leave with him. Without having to go through whatever the non-god wanted. Not that Rolo would have been susceptible to leaving his goddess's side without her consent. The boy heeled at her beck and call. Embarrassing, really.

But he might have been able to trick them. Maybe. As it was, he could hardly leave without Rolo. So he would have to hear her out.

"This… you're going to_ infiltrate_ the royal palace? On Christmas Eve? Lelouch, what are you planning to do there…."

Lelouch winced, realizing he had thought the answer. And shot her a glance to see golden eyes widen. "You _can't._ You are making a big mistake."

The secret was out, he supposed. So Lelouch could concentrate on opposing the witch. "I _can_ and I _will_. Now leave and get ready for your own mission."

There was steel in her eyes this time, and the escaped Agent knew she would not back down. "I am _not helping you do_ this. No; I will not allow you to go _at all_. Not without returning your memories."

He ignored her, running systems checks. Keeping his back turned. Everything was in order. If only Rolo would hurry.

"Lelouch, you cannot do this without your mind whole." The witch was stepping closer, and he needed to move for a safe minimum distance.

He stepped to the side, turning to face her. "Too bad, it's all set in motion now. I have to go."

"You have to let me try again to fix it, Lelouch."

"No! No, absolutely NOT."

"What are you afraid of? Rolo told you the _truth_, did he not? Don't be so childish; I am pretty sure I've figured a way around the block I ran in the first time. If you'd just let me _try_."

"Why don't you just _tell _me what I need to know?" he was trying for calm, yet Lelouch felt his voice rise. Between the Vincent and the control panel attached, there was no way out. No way to call a retreat except past the not-god.

"That's _not_ good enough, Lelouch; you need to become _yourself_ again. Just hearing the story will not return your old feelings to you, you know that. If you go out there, to the royal palace, the way you are now, you are going to make a big _tragic_ mistake. Please!" She was moving forward again; coming dangerously close. One hand extended, open-palmed, pleading. But the gesture only whispered of fear and suffering to him.

Her eyes widened in shock, as five shots embedded themselves neatly into the girl-immortal's skull, and she fell as the sounds of his gun rang across the silent hanger. After a moment, all was still again.

Lelouch had wracked his mind on it for days; how do you get the jump on someone who can read you mind? The answer turned out to be simple: don't think. Act on instinct.

Perfect. _Beautiful._

Exempting the fact that she was _immortal_, and she would soon be on her feet again.

On her feet and likely upset.

Lelouch stood transfixed for a good few breaths, before he even noticed the mechanic standing in plain sight, clutching a note folder to his chest. His eyes were wide with shock.

"Don't just stand there." At least the man seemed to be the only close enough to have heard; to have seen. It was strange, to hear his own voice hitch.

Lelouch pulled the eye patch away to reveal his Geass. "Help me."


	17. Chapter 17

**Special thanks to Kiki Hayashi and Magery for beta-ing. Go check out their work; it's pretty amazing. **

**Maybe I should put a warning here about death and psychotic episodes and other uglies...but if you've made it up to here, well actuallyit only gets worse, just so you know.**

**Disclaimer: Nobody owns me. But if you want I'll own you, right here right now. (*wonders idly if she did it right this time*)**

**~~-R-~~**

Rolo knew that was something wrong the moment his brother entered the Vincent's hanger. His face was a little too pale, and his step a little too measured. His hands did not shake when he worked the keyboards to check the Vincent's read-outs, but the deliberateness within those moves suggested they should have been. Well, Rolo did feel like his big brother should feel _some_ guilt for cracking his skull on a wall, but he had not wanted to see him this distressed about it.

"Brother…" It was a measure of his worry that he only noticed the other thing wrong now. "Mistress C.C. will not be saying goodbye to me?"

Lelouch threw him a weak smile. "Sorry, I don't think so. How's your head?"

"I'll live," Rolo conceded, but he could read there was more than plain guilt eating the man. "Did you make the mistress angry?"

The elder didn't even contest him calling her such; "Ah, I think I might have. Sorry brother."

It was something Rolo had expected from the start. Mistress C.C. was kind - kind, amazing and wonderful. But there was only so much even a Goddess could take. And Lelouch; well, Rolo knew his brother could turn hatred on himself like no other. One might say it was a miracle that it had taken this long for the dam to burst. What surprised Rolo was that he had no clear idea how to react to this situation. Loyalty to his Goddess demanded he should choose her side. But he had only just switched religions, and there was also the loyalty to his partner– no, truly his brother by now… "Lelouch…" he started.

The elder cut him off, "Let's just get this mission out of the way and worry about everything else later, okay?"

Rolo agreed wholeheartedly with that sentiment.

~~-L-~~

Lelouch was hunkered down in the baggage space behind the Vincent's control seat, laptop plugged into its systems for feedback. But there was little to do right now, so he just kept his hands over the controls, absently using the Christmas hat to wipe at the buttons – C.C.'s hat; the one that he had found laying on the floor, oddly without even a speck of blood on it, even after he and the technician had dragged her bullet-riddled, still unconscious shape away and…

What the hell was wrong with him? _The right solution? _Who was he kidding?

Well, he had had no _choice_. He and Rolo would get rid of the Royal family, and in return the Japanese armies would take care of the entire Order. That was the _deal._ It hinged on them infiltrating the Royal palace and extinguishing the entire Britannia family. They were capable; just as the Japanese forces would be capable of dealing with a few unsuspecting kids and scientists. But then that not-goddess had decided she would not let him go.

Let him! The sheer hubris!

It didn't change the fact that Lelouch was now, totally, truly, fucked.

Giving into a bout of nervousness, he called Kallen on her private Guren line. "Be careful – when you pick up the container for the immortal, remember not to open it until the last moment."

She asked why. He made up some crap about a containment gas that would leak and be spent too soon otherwise.

_Also, put that capsule down and run the other way. Because I've given you the equal of a volatile bomb and forgot to mention it. How did you manage to survive this long if you're going to believe in someone like me anyway?_

After hanging up, Lelouch laughed out loud – a brittle sound that caused Rolo to cast him a worried frown. Poor girl, she just went out and trusted the wrong people. That was her only sin. Maybe he should send her out on the wrong way even if they did spot the Master of the Order-no, V.V. At least that way, Kallen wouldn't suddenly find herself facing down two angry immortals at once.

At least that way, Lelouch would not have a very upset goddess tracking him down.

That would only fix half his problem. Lelouch now officially had two immortals out to skin him alive, and only one containment capsule to keep them in. Ridiculously, he found himself contemplating a way to squeeze V.V. into the one small container with the witch.

No, he thought, and already started typing. He should send an in-message to all groups scouring the Order's bases to keep an eye out for any _more _containers. If only he could get his hands on a second one… But what had possessed him to put his—_the_— witch into that bloody capsule? She had been kind. She _had_ been. A thousand times more preferable to V.V., but with one simple act he had made an enemy out of her. How could he - for all his clever tricks, still just a man - win out against _two_ immortals?

He was going to die. No, he was going to _wish_ he were dead – soon. Perhaps if he went back now, released her and… No! That would not help anyone. He just had to work with what he had. Keep going. The plan was still salvageable. In fact, he still had a good chance of coming out the winner. As long as he didn't panic.

Lelouch might have squeezed that stupid Christmas hat a little too tightly, because Rolo, at the controls, took notice. He turned, "Isn't that C.C.'s hat?"

Lies came easily to Lelouch, as always. "Yeah. She was handing them out. I thought it'd be funny."

Funny, like pulling the legs out of a spider, and Lelouch could not help but feel he was to be the spider today. But he pulled the hat over his own head, and threw his brother a challenging grin. The younger frowned but wisely kept his peace.

Rolo bent back to his controls, only slightly favoring the arm that had suffered a break to the collarbone less than two weeks ago, and not so long ago Lelouch had added a cracked skull and probably a slight concussion to the boy's injuries. Lelouch winced, making a mental note to place as little burden as he could on his little brother tonight. Not for the first time, he considered that it was a damn good thing he had such a strong little brother, and not this crippled girl for a sister he had been told about. If this girl still lived, she would never survive the day she was reunited with him.

Finally they reached their destination – they were as close as they could triangulate the Order's spy camp, from the transmission Todoh had sent. Lelouch set up a verbal link to the advance units, and ordered them to do a fly-over. A beach close to the Chinese coast, so it would be unwise to attack just anything they could find. Not unless they were sure they had uncovered a Britannian stealth base, and didn't find themselves fighting Chinese units by mistake.

According to the plan, when the Black Knight's made their first fly-over, an Order's stealth unit should be tempted to contact headquarters. Indeed; soon, a radio signal was intercepted by the Vincent's systems.

Lelouch read out the radio's frequency to Rolo, and the boy grunted. "That's them, right?" Lelouch asked, with emphasis.

"It doesn't sit right with me," his little brother admitted.

But there was no way Rolo would be allowed to back out now: "Do I need to call C.C. to have her order you to cooperate?"

A preposterous threat, as he had locked her into a capsule. But Rolo as didn't know that, and so he sighed in defeat. "That is one of our—of their frequencies."

After that, it was easy to pinpoint the stealth-unit's position, and even easier to mow them down. The only thing that had required a time-stop was to land, and quietly pick up the commanding soldier's laptop. The machine was still logged on to the Order's network, and Lelouch wasted little time plugging it in with his own and reading out all the systems.

From there on it was child's play to read out the Order's base-locations; there were twelve all together, six military bases and six research bases. Lelouch immediately began delegating units to their position ; the farthest away bases would be reached by transport ships. But then, as he continued to look for the—V.V.'s present location, he noticed something odd. There were strange gates at all the Order's locations; doorways they called them. And these doorways connected with one another, through a place apparently called C's world. And there was a thirteenth door, right under the Royal Britannian palace.

Sadly, there was little info about how to travel these gateways, but it was obvious that V.V. knew how to. Lelouch grabbed onto the information greedily, a plan already half-formed in his mind. All he needed now was a sure way to lure the not-god into a gateway. He gave orders to rig all the 'way-gates' with explosives, except the thirteen. He'd take care of that one personally. If only he knew where the little not-god was…

**~~-Ch-~~**

It had been Charles's idea originally to abstain from scheming on boxing night; to at least enjoy a good meal with his brother and then, later, with his children, if only for one night a year. But this time, he could only feel glee at his older brother's distress. Still, he made his voice coaxing when he spoke, "Take it easy, Vincent."

V.V.'s eyes flashed. "Don't call me that."

Indeed, Charles considered, that was unnecessarily cruel. His brother need only look in a mirror to be reminded of what could have been had he not taken on the Geass curse; or at his '_little_' brother; at Charles's many wives.

A man over fifty, stuck forever in a child's body. Before Marianne's murder, Charles had felt pity at that thought. Now, all he could think was: s_erves you right._

But Charles apologized courteously all the same, "Tell you what, as soon as the festivities are at an end, we'll bring Schneizel into this. Let him send his armies to Japan and retrieve your—ah... Lost toys?"

It was not good enough; but at least V.V. seemed mollified. "I also need C.C; I just _know_ she is behind this whole debacle. Though I still don't understand how she managed to… I was sure V_i_'s boy would pump her so full of lead even _she_ wouldn't be able to move for hours; especially if he found out what she was. And then Rolo would have taken them right to the retrieval unit…"

_Vi_'s boy was V.V.'s name for Marianna's son, Lelouch. Charles always had to stop a twitch when his brother used his wife's abbreviation so blatantly, but he smiled benevolently all the same. "We'll see if we can get our hands on that slippery witch too then, shall we?"

Charles didn't really care either way about the witch, truly. He had little faith in the Ragnarok connection. To him, it was little more than a foolish boy's dream by now. But he still had faith in his son. If there were any way to end this little monster's life—this thing that had once been his brother—then surely Lelouch would find it. And if the boy required a little further incentive by being put under V.V.'s thumb once more, then so be it. Charles could wait; he had waited for eight years now, and he would wait another eight or more if he had to, but he would have his revenge.

**~~-oc-~~**

The family had all gathered; all except the Emperor himself. However, he usually only showed for the main course , said a few words, and then retired just as quickly. But then again, Charles was the Emperor: if he preferred to spend his Christmas Eve dinners alone, there was no-one to tell him otherwise. So the diners talked quietly amongst themselves, enjoying entrée courses and hors d'oeuvres. It was a private affair, only next of kin and those married into the family allowed, and it was common consensus that this night at least, all political maneuvering be adjourned. As such, the mood was informal if not relaxed, and several princes, including Odysseus, were well into their wines already.

Schneizel, who usually had a place of preference amongst the children, sat with their re-found sister Nunnally. This might have been frowned upon as favoring this blind cripple in other situations, but today most were just happy not to have the prime-minister seated next to _them_ instead. Everyone knew that even if Schneizel promised to leave his plotting and scheming for this one day, he probably wouldn't be able to abstain if he overheard something useful. Even tonight, a wise man minded his tongue around _'the white prince'_.

What _was _frowned upon was when Cornelia was called away by a worried looking security guard. Rumors milled around quickly at that; from a ridiculous story that a rogue Vincent was running a gauntlet straight for the royal palace to an equally silly story that this was just a ruse for her Knight Guilford to call her away and have her to himself on this special night. Yes, even if the royal family promised not to scheme tonight, slander and gossip came to them as easily as breathing. They didn't really know how to do without it.

Soon enough though, the guests went back to their usual conversations. The evening progressed, the guests only interrupted by servants moving to and fro, bringing in dishes laden with food and alcohol; leaving with half-finished plates and emptied bottles. All that seemed to change was the voices became more boisterous, the laughter more shrill, and more drink were spilled.

It was perhaps odd that in this spirit of merriment, there was a sudden hitch—a moment—perhaps a minute that the party-goers suddenly lost their fevered high. Or perhaps it was premonition, for the furtive glances stolen at the throne, sat against the grand stained glass window looked more worried than usual. More worried than they should have been on this one night that backstabbing should not be allowed. Whatever the reason, it was almost quiet in those last minutes, before the storm hit.

And so, it was completely quiet; cold air encompassed the royal family suddenly from all sides, not like it had come rushing in, but like it had surrounded them without moving through the intervening space. Then, a collective gasp sounded as both those at the table and those standing around serving them noticed the stained glass was gone, shattered and on the floor. In its place the hulking frame of a Knightmare reached in, its hand stretched out, almost touching their father's throne seat. The arm appeared to be retracting.

It was only when the royals followed that hand down that they noticed the figure standing atop that throne. He was dressed in black, except for a rather stupid red Christmas hat on his head, and one eye he kept firmly closed. Regardless of this and regardless of the fact most of the room's occupants had not seen this man in eight years, he was easily recognized, and a second, more surprise gasp resounded through the room.

Then, the man spoke, his tone starting light, "Ladies and gentlemen, Merry Christmas! I imagine all of you will be expecting presents now." Then his voice dipped, taking on a venomous tone, face twisting to a sneer. "But I really didn't see the point bringing in a whole sack of coals. Also, I think the world deserves its present this year, don't you?" At that, he opened his left eye and the power that had been held at bay bloomed, took flight and settled within the minds of all those looking. "You, all of you… die."

**Sorry about taking so long to update. I'm losing my focus. Well, just about 3 more chapters to go, so I'll try and hang in there huh?**


	18. Chapter 18

Special thanks to Aeterna knight, for beta-ing so I can finally finish this fic.

That's right, From Within is officially off hold, and should be finished within a few weeks! Stay tuned ;)

~~-S-~~

Schneizel knew he was, at heart - when the chips were down, and real danger came calling on his door-, a selfish coward. It was not a trait he valued in himself, he would rather have been valiant and self-sacrificing, but it was simply not his true nature.

So,when his long-lost half-brother suddenly appeared on top of his father's throne, it was Schneizel's true nature that shone through. The Prime Minister had done enough research to know Geass would be involved, and as that power often resided on eye-contact, he firmly closed his eyes the moment he saw Lelouch. The tall prince felt his pulse hammer in his throat, his mind run through his options, but sadly he would have to admit in all honesty his scenarios for survival only accounted for himself.

When the prodigal half-brother issued his order for suicide, havoc broke out all around the dining room. Schneizel had ducked under the table, rolling himself into a trembling little ball.

The Prime Minister did not know what power Lelouch held, but it became evident now his orders would be obeyed absolutely, for above him, Schneizel could hear the gun-shots and death-gurgles of his brethren as they executed that commandment.

Schneizel had listened to the sounds of his entire family dying for half a minute before he thought of anyone but himself. In the midst of grunts and gasping last breaths, Schneizel saved the one person that might not have been susceptible to the call for suicide. He pulled Nunnally down under the table, and quickly placed a hand over her mouth.

It was dreadful; all around them their siblings were dying, dripping blood that seeped from crevasses in the inlayed mahogany table and fell into both Schneizel's and Nunnally's hairs. Pairs of legs in his vision trembled still, unaware that their owners were no longer amongst the living. Slack arms swung around the borders of the table, now and then twitching with the spasms of death. The marble floors slowly pooled red around them and on the periphery along the walls, servants and guards lay dying on the floor, fallen prey to the same madness that had ended the royal family.

Then all became quiet, save for Schneizel's own panicked heartbeat and the hitched breathing from Nunnally through his fingers.

After what seemed an eternity, a boy's voice rang out. Sadly calling, "Brother…"

It was not the kind of sadness of a man's heart breaking at the sight of carnage, though—as Schneizel would have hoped any young man would react to this sight. It sounded more like a mother would, had she come home to find her son had made a mess of the house, yet again: slightly disappointed, but hardly surprised.

Yet it was the response that caused Nunnally to surrender to silent tears. Schneizel would have liked to join her, were it not for his mind focusing on survival, not mourning.

"I know," Nunnally's long-lost brother answered, sounding as untroubled as the first voice, "I should have made my command a bit more specific. I didn't mean to kill all the hired help as well."

~~L~~

His little brother was getting antsy, but Lelouch knew there was importance in being thorough. Deliberately, he stepped in between the plates and goblets as he made his way over the table, toeing his next victim's head to the side for a better look at the man's face. This one had ended himself by sword instead of a bullet, which made identification a lot easier.

"Odysseus." Lelouch announced, comparing the man's face with his list of royal photos. "First born and nominal crown prince." He sifted through the papers, ignoring Rolo's soft complaints about taking too much time for this. "That leaves us with his Majesty, the Emperor. Schneizel, the Prime Minister. Cornelia, Chief-general, and…"

A girl, about Rolo's age, held herself straight in the next portrait, as if she was staring up at him, but her eyes were firmly closed. Somehow Lelouch knew that was because she was blind. She had long, light brown hair and a somewhat familiar face. _Cute_ and _sweet _were words that came to him, looking at that picture. Although Lelouch also knew at an instinctive level that words as such should never be associated with the royal family. And yet, it was as if this girl wanted to say something to him personally. Words he could almost hear, if only he could strain his hearing far enough...

"Brother…?"

Lelouch almost jumped at the hand around his ankle. Rolo stared up at him worriedly from the ground. With what he hoped was a relaxed shrug, the elder jumped down from the table. "It's nothing. You are right; we should get a move on."

As if to strengthen that point, a group of guards took this particular moment to open the door leading out of the dining hall. There was half a second as the leading knight's eyes widened, then he pushed a woman in formal dress out of the doorway The other guards had only time to take aim before Lelouch had his Geass-eye free.

"Gentlemen, thank you for coming!" He told the three men as their faces went slack, weapons dropping back to their sides, unused. "You will from now on follow my -and only my – _exact _orders."

Lelouch took a moment, realizing that the woman in formal dress – the one saved from his Geass- was none other Cornelia. And that meant that the man in charge of these guards – yes, he recognized him now -was Guildford. The ex-agent made no attempt to stop that lazy smirk from creeping onto his face, "Gentlemen, Knight Guildford, please assemble all soldiers and guards in the mail hall. Also, shoot on sight any and all members of the Royal family you might run into."

There was a rustle, and a blink, in which Rolo moved– again using his Geass, though he had promised he would only as a last resort; then, a skirmish. And Lelouch was shocked to find Rolo holding down both Guildford and an elder soldier's weapon as they tried to take aim on Lelouch. Utterly confused, the Lelouch stammered, "Belay that. Cancel those orders. Just get any and all personnel assembled into the lobby, sans head-gear."

At that, the senior soldier and Guildford dropped their weapons to their sides again, like a perfect pair of obedient automatons. They saluted smartly, and left.

Rolo stared at their retreating backs before he turned on Lelouch with a worried frown. "What was that? Another case of your Geass already used?"

Slowly, Lelouch shook his head at his younger sibling. "No, that can't be it. They fell in line the moment I cast my curse on them. It would be a thing hard to fake. It's more like…" a grimace, and he almost did not want to utter these words to Rolo. Rolo who had stayed loyal to _him_, through and despite all he had done. His one true brother.

But still, there was a past for Lelouch. One in which Rolo had no part in. "It's almost as if…"

Glass shattered, a high-chimed ring filling the air with sounds and shards alike, as a white Knightmare's arm reached into the royal banquet's rooms; gleaming, malicious, and awfully familiar.

A single glance up to the machine's head was enough to confirm; this was the Lancelot.

"Out." Lelouch warned his brother, then ran to obey himself.

~~S~~

Waiting was not one of Suzaku's strong suits. Skill, ability and bravery, he thought he had in spades. But patience… Perhaps this is why he was frustrated beyond measure when the rogue Vincent had first been sighted. Frustrated, because Suzaku had known, even before asking permission to launch, that Cornellia would not grant it. Not to him. Not to the upstart Japanese knight…

His knuckles had turned white from gripping the controls ages ago, but that was far beyond Suzaku's notice.

The only thing he did notice, really, were the animated voices from his Lancelot's radio.

"I don't understand."

"He was right here."

"Did I get him?"

The Knightmare pilots grunted in frustration, then screamed in panic. Confused and uselessly flaying about as they tried taking down their one single enemy – a single Vincent that had apparently the ability to teleport around the battle-field. And, by the sound of things, such a power was enough to take down the entire army. From the communications, not even the enemy's position seemed clear, nor its tactic, nor its goal. Only one overall sentiment distilled from the radio messages from Suzaku's brothers in arms: "How is it moving so fast?"

And Suzaku was, again, sitting there. Grounded. Useless. As always, thanks to that same, infernal woman. Here, in the privacy of his pilot's seat, the Knight of Seven was finally able to admit what he dared not say in public; he _hated _Cornelia.

That stupid, short-sighted, racist b – princess. Here he was, right on their doorstep, ready and willing to help, one of the best Knightmare Aces in history in what was likely the greatest machine ever built, and the Chief-General was unwilling to let him help, simply because he had been born in the wrong country.

"Suzaku Kururugi, ready for launch." He called in, through clenched teeth. Though he knew that, if command bothered with a reply at all, it would be to tell him that there was no need, and they were on top of things.

They were not, obviously. Cornelia's home defense had lost over a dozen units to their unknown enemy already, and they seemed no closer to taking down the rogue pilot then when that rogue machine had first ignored hails and requests for identification.

A gasp from one of the soldiers brought Suzaku to full attention, "My god! He's breaking into the palace!"

It was enough. Screw orders; he was a Knight of Rounds! Suzaku Kururugi would do what was right. And now, with a place to do it, he could.

Lancelot launched, beelined for the palac and what appeared the single Rogue Vincent, already abandoned by its pilot.


	19. Chapter 19

**Special thanks to Aeterna Knight for beta-ing.**

**~~L~~**

Glass shattered as the corridor was breached by a great robot's metal claw, clinking to the floor with a high-pitched song from a million different voices. A jump, a slide, and around a corner, Lelouch and Rolo made it to the relative safety of a corridor intersection. It lasted a whole four seconds before that great white machine pushed its elbow through along the glass corridor. A hand reaching into the dark, feeling the wall the brothers were pressed up against.

The siblings needed not even an exchange of glance before they started off down the other hallway. This time, they had near reached the end when that great hand reached for them again, bringing down hale-storms of glass. Lelouch needed his brother's time-stop to manage to evade that hand, and he found himself rolling roughly across the marble floor. He'd have a few bruises to sport for his lousy execution, yet it was better than the alternative. They wrenched open a side-door, hoping for the sanctuary of a dark storage room, but great open walls of glass greeted them instead –there would be no hiding here, either.

Coming around outside, the Lancelot's great head glared down on them, eyes gleaming with an unnatural light. Lelouch could only state with grim certainty, "It is after me."

Both brothers retracted their steps, the chime of windows shattering behind them, and were off into the next hallway. They at least made it to the end of that one without incident. The down side, however, was that they had lost sight of that giant humanoid machine.

"Split up." Lelouch commanded, and to his credit Rolo did not object.

Lelouch gulped for breath as his little brother sprinted down another hallway. This was, the elder brother told himself deliberately, a weight off his mind. Rolo was hurt—wounded. It was amazing the boy could run at all in his current state. With another calming breath, the agent-gone-rogue turned back into on his steps, deliberately exposing himself through the glass to the outside. It would not do if the Lancelot mistakenly chased Rolo.

He only needed to wait for half a second, then that metal hand stretched through glass again. He dived, rolled, and sprinted off again (you've used this word just above.) without bothering to stay out of view, deliberately taking an all-glass corridor bridge to another wing of the palace. The machine's sphere-systems would show the pilot all heat-signatures around anyway. Lelouch would rather it followed the right blob, then go after Rolo by mistake instead.

The Lancelot took the bait, and the hallway exploded in glass and splinters behind him. A Knightmare's arm swiped through walls and floors alike, so casually that there could be no innocent bystanders close enough for the pilot to worry about. That was bad news for Lelouch, for such protection was his only chance against this fully operational war-machine.

Then again, the change of tactic suggested Lelouch had been close to such bystanders before...

Two turns left, and a sprint down yet another hall found him in front of an un-assuming servant's door. Indeed, after pulling it open, Lelouch found three servants crouched under a table. "Decoys!" he expressed, giddy with adrenaline, as he cast his Geass upon them. "Kindly help me out."

~~S~~

Rage burned Suzaku's guts like a rampaging beast and channeled itself straight into his Lancelot. Oh, that Britannian bastard had truly done it this time. The murderous, treacherous snake Suzaku had once - in his naivety - called best friend.

_Damn Lelouch!_

First, his beloved Euphemia had been taken—disgraced and murdered by this monster, and now… The Emperor had _promised__Suzaku,_ proclaimed with certainty such as this could not happen. The wayward prince had been brainwashed, locked up, andput under constant supervision.

And yet here he was, finishing the job,_killing off his entire family._

_Damn the devil guised as Zero._

When Suzaku had set sights on that indiscriminate massacre, there had been no time to look for survivors in the wreckage of cooling bodies – not that Suzaku harbored much hope that this so-called revolutionary would leave loose ends. Lelouch had finally done the unthinkable: he had killed his precious baby sister—dear little Nunnally.

Collateral damage, the devil(since you called him this above, you could change it to "demon") that had named itself Zero would have called it. And by that act, Lelouch had, Suzaku realized, taken from the knight the last person he could have cared for. Nunnally had been an angel. Pure; undeserving of such a horrid fate. She had been a gem amongst the dark bloody coals that were here siblings, an antithesis to that monster that had once been her brother.

So, Suzaku allowed _his inner beast_control, thinking of the only thing that could give his tormented soul rest:

_Revenge__._

Now, he chased Lelouch, like a cat playing with a mouse. Oh, he could have killed this man already; with but a single missile. Perhaps Lelouch thought Suzaku was not doing so for risking others. At any other time, this would have been true, and the Knight of Rounds did indeed try to reason with _the beast_inside him to try and keep casualties down. But the beast was in control, and the beast did not_care;_born from Suzaku's rage and desperation, the beast only longed for one wanted to pick Lelouch up in its great lumbering fingers, still alive. Then, it wanted to pull its limbs from the man and listen to him _scream_.

In this state, Suzaku realized his childhood friend now represented all he hated in this world; all he despised. The knight of rounds felt, without remorse, that no price would be too great to pay for ridding the world of the monster; of Zero. And so, the Knight of Seven actually laughed when he suddenly found not one target, but four fleeing from the scene. With an emotion akin to amusement, he lazily went on to pick out the extra decoys.

Suzaku pushed one into a wall, picked another up by the back of his coat. The third he lazily flicked aside. The Knightmare-ace was not killing them, these Geassed subordinates, but he was not trying very hard not to.

So focused on his prey, Suzaku was, that he only noticed the incoming Vincent when it slammed against his Knightmare's side. The Lancelot actually lost its footing and dropped on its ass in the royal gardens. With a curse, the Knight of Seven drew his machine's twin swords, standing to face his opponent in one smooth turn.

The Vincent pulled out its own blades, but Suzaku could only smirk. No matter how good this man might be, there was only one Ace on this battlefield.

~~L~~

"No." Stupid, slow realization crept up on Lelouch, as he finally understood why his brother had so easily accepted leaving him behind. "No! No, no, no, no. Nonononono!"

Understanding dawning – far too late – of what that grim expression his brother had worn had pertained. A calculation, far after the fact, showing Lelouch that his brother had bee-lined his way back to the Vincent-type Knightmare they had arrived in. On the brink of this, the realization that Rolo was likely to believe he would have the upper hand in a battle such as this.

Yet Lelouch knew, down to his very core, that the Lancelot with its ace-pilot, were _completely undefeatable_.

And Rolo was _wounded;_he would not be able to use his Geass to maximum effect.

Cold dread filled his stomach as he watched, from a broken walk-way, unable to intervene, the metal giants went at the other with seeming ease. Swords clashed, sparks flew, and a spin-kick from that white marvel of a machine already had Rolo flying. The boy obviously used his Geass time-stop, again, to roll out of the way before the Lancelot managed to land its killing blow – this Lelouch could deduct easily from their change of positions.

Also easily deductible was that Rolo's return-blow had done little, although Rolo had landed the swing during his time-stop, his little brother obviously lacked either time or power. Perhaps it was not even possible for the damaged Vincent to even scratch the powerfully shielded Lancelot.

Considering this was all Rolo could do now, Lelouch knew the boy would be in serious trouble within seconds.

As the machines clashed together a third time, Lelouch tore his eyes away; he could not help like this – he had to do something. With new determination, the elder brother pushed his body past exhaustion, and trotted back the way he had come, towards the main hall, at the best speed he could still manage.

Already, perhaps a hundred men altogether had gathered there.

The soldiers positioned neatly in ranks, the guards to the side conversing in whispers. . And then there were the servants; scared and weak and all but cowering at the onslaught their royal residence was under. But what they lacked in skills, they would make up for in numbers, soon. Overseeing the congregation were the two soldiers he had Geassed, and no doubt Guildford was still out 'recruiting' around the castle.

"Gentlemen, ladies!" Lelouch called, making his way down the palatial stairway. "Welcome to the resistance." he had not even bothered covering his eye before, and the Geass symbolblazed forth. "You will now become my ever-loyal slaves."

His next action was to confiscate a guard's communication device, tuning it so that he could speak directly to Rolo's Vincent. Loud clanging was the first thing he heard when the frequency opened. Likely, the Lancelot's ace was in the process of ripping Rolo's machine to shreds.

"Brother," he announced, not even bothering to ask if the boy was alright – all such considerations would have to wait until Rolo was safe. "I have a plan. Get yourself into the main entrance hall ASAP." Then, Lelouch directed his new army, placing them in clusters at the edges of the hall, or at the second level balcony, making sure each group was commanded by a peon equipped with ear-piece so he could talk directly to them. Guilford returned, another twenty or so men in tow, and Lelouch cast his curse on them too.

Then (try using a different word, you used this above), the main door exploded.

A dome came crashing in, skidding through the lowest steps of the open stairs, and then crashed to a halt in the wall under it. It was the Vincent's escape-pod.

"Knight Guilford." Lelouch managed, standing straight and tall and unmoving to supply a good enough target for the white Knightmare. "Kindly get my brother out of the escape capsule and see that he is alright." He didn't even check if the knight executed his orders, but kept eyes on the hole in the over-sized entry hall, where what was left of the giant twin doors was grabbed by two great white-armored hands and pulled away.

Suzaku had to crawl his frame to fit it through the entrée hallway, but the main stairway hall was just high enough for the Knightmare to stand, though he had to crouch it slightly to keep the backpack storing his float-system from catching on the giant chandeliers. Nevertheless, he managed the controls almost automatically, eyes fixed on his target, lips pressed to a thin, angry line.

Even if he had to descend into hell itself to slay this beast, he would.

Lelouch was just standing there, all in black. The old Zero again, only without the mask. It was such an obvious trap, Suzaku could not resist springing it. He stopped his machine, kneeling it down and opening its chest hatch to step out boldly.

The creature that had been Lelouch grunted, one eye closed as he kept still on the top of that ruined staircase: "I thought it was you… Suzaku."

The Knight-of-Seven could not help his sarcastic smirk: "Ah, you finally remember me!"

"Not really. Just one thing, actually." A pause, one eye almost looking introspective.

Suzaku grinned, wickedly. "And that would be…?"

"That one of us will meet his end today."

"For once, it seems we completely agree." The Knightmare pilot stood tall on the chest's hatch, daring the other to…

"Yes." The black-clad figure told his counterpart in white, opening that wicked purple eye. "Please die."

A mad, angry chuckle rose from the Knight-of-Seven, spreading to open laughter as the other's mismatched eyes widened in shock. "No, you die." With that, Suzaku jumped back, closing the hatch back up and grabbed for the Knightmare's controls. Ready for anything.

Indeed, Lelouch would not be Lelouch if the man had not at least had one contingency plan. Just as Suzaku stepped forward, men and women came out of everywhere, called on by Zero's curse of command. Lelouch mumbled into his ear-piece, and in answer soldiers swung at his Knightmare from ropes. Others simply jumped from second stories, grabbing onto the Knightmare's arms, or missed to fall to the hard floor with pained cries. They picked themselves up -those that were still conscious - and grabbed onto his frame's legs.

Suzaku was momentary baffled, as he was scaled like Gulliver by the little people. Maids and soldiers alike finding a foot-hold on the frame's shoulders and within the crooks of its elbows. Then, they started banging on his armor with make-shift weapons or the backs of rifles.

When the shock had worn off, only scorn remained. Suzaku turned on his speakers, calling out, "How low, Lelouch, even for you. Do you think you can hide behind the skirts of servants? Do you think I will not spill innocent blood to get to you? Trust me-" and, despite his words, Suzaku had to swallow back bile as his first step came with the sickening soft squish of bodies under foot, "Even _athousand _innocent deaths would be well worth putting an end to you!"

That shocked expression under black bangs had changed to a lazy smirk again, and Suzaku felt instinctively this was not the time to dawdle. Another squish-step, and he brought his Knightmare's mighty arm forward, set on reaching out and simply squashing that monster, this once-man out of existence. But, as he reached forward, Suzaku felt friction increase ten-fold, accompanied by loud crystal jiggling. He froze.

One of the para-troopers had managed a hold on the inside of his wrist-protector, and had shot up a cable, attaching the machine's arm to the chandelier overhead. Suzaku pulled experimentally, seeing cracks appear in the ceiling. It would not due to pull the entire palace over his head: even if the Lancelot would survive the abuse it would most likely get stuck. Not to mention, Suzaku would have caused the death of the Emperor himself. For safety reasons, that need would have to be cut before—Suzaku gasped: one after one, his fact-sphere's images turned black.

He finally understood why those ghouls in Lelouch's power attacked with hammers and the heels of their guns: they had been going for the cameras on this armor, blinding him. True, Lancelot blinded would do little good, in this closed-off space. But did that fool really think Suzaku helpless without his Knightmare? The knight growled, mowing blindly with his free arm, stamping giant feet: determined to kill as many as those curse-bound creatures before stepping out.

Then, calmly, he picked up his sword, and brought the Lancelot down to kneel, caught arm left extended up in its bonds.

The scene that assailed his senses when Suzaku opened his hatch was far from pleasant. The contrast between the dark, sterile confined of his  
cockpit, and the thick air that assailed him now was acute: smells of slaughterhouse thick enough to leave the taste on his tongue: smoke, death, blood. It stirred memories of a near-buried childhood that made Suzaku want to gag. Once-white marble, now a decaying red and brown, fragments of bone and entrails dotting floor and walls. A few of the mindless ghouls were still thrashing, but only an odd score had survived the Lancelot's last vicious attack.

Suzaku focused on that hooded glare his target was giving him: that unnatural light shining from his left eye—cursed; demonic. And jumped, faulting over the bloodied ground to land on the lowest intact step of that staircase, stepping up quickly to close the distance between them.

That murderer just smirked, stepped to the side to the parapet, and allowed himself to tip over, feet-over-head, and dropped down. Suzaku didn't even falter in his steps, just put one foot on the rail Lelouch had disappeared at, and somersaulted down.

A sword passed inches above Suzaku's head as he ducked down, instinctively. The Geass directive in Suzaku's mind took charge, and followed through even against impossible odd, keeping him alive. How the Knight of Seven _hated _it! When his mind was his own again, Suzaku came face to face with the grave face of Princess Cornelia's personal Knight, Guilford.

"He got you too, then." The white knight growled, steeling his heart – the other's mind was as good as gone now, anyway. Guilford was better off if Suzaku killed him clean.

Guildford sweeping his sword wide with distractions while the last of the Geassed soldiers and servants circled the Knight of Seven. Frustrated, Suzaku watched as he was pressed back, slipping on slick blood and bowels underfoot. The one Suzaku had come to kill was ignoring him, fawning over that fake 'brother' of his, helping the boy to his feet. Lelouch would soon regret turning his back on him. Suzaku dodged anther bullet, yet again aided by his curse to _live,_then continued to make quick work of two soldier-ghouls that had come a little too close.

Guilford's next attack was parried, and Suzaku spin-dropped and turned with sword protecting him over-head, using his freed hand to shoot another pair of soldiers that had had enough brains left to hang back. Turning the gun on the other knight proved a mistake. The fire-arm was deftly chopped out of his hand, and the Knight-of-Seven had only a moment to appreciate he still had all his fingers left before Guilford pushed him back even further.

It wasn't a total loss when Suzaku's back foot hit his own knightmare's leg: at least now his back was safe from attacks. With a parry, he swiped for the closest soldier, cutting him deep, then against the knight, this time his sword cut into armor, and Suzaku could only grin. He had this one as good as bagged.

With grim certainty, he moved in for the kill, Guilford obviously hampered by his bleeding abdomen. – Well, Suzaku reasoned it was no longer Guilford, for that man had died when Lelouch had taken his free will. There was only a puppet left. And it was better to die now, then to live a puppet. Suzaku parried another high blow, then pirouetted into a swing meant to lob the knight's head clear off.

He would have made it too, had not Suzaku's curse intervened and forced his body backward.

When command was returned to him, Suzaku could only glare at the young agent at the far side of the hall. Rolo had taken the shot; a shot he had not seen nor heard, but still the Geass had come to aid the knight. Lelouch was at the boy's side again, talking excitedly, drawing the young agent back by the shoulder from his crouched position. Rolo looked winded. Blood soaked his side and there were bandages around his shoulder and head. Suzaku deduced it would be easy to take the boy out, even if there was a Geass to consider. The Knight-of-Seven knew the boy-agent's power relied on stopping his heart - research had granted that much. And in his appalling state right now, certainly he could not do more than seconds. Suzaku could rely on his own curse to save him.

Right now, Guilford demanded his attention once again. The man moved in a desperate flurry, once again pressing him back against the Lancelot. Suzaku let him for a moment, but then started his own retaliation, gaining ground blow after blow.

This time, Suzaku did hear the shot– two shots, almost fired at the same time – as both Lelouch and his fake little brother tried again their useless ploy. The time stop would happen after that, Suzaku considered as he let the curse take over once again. With a sneer, his body dropped down backward, moving out of the trajectory of on-coming bullet. A corner of his mind knew that Lelouch had shot wide – ridiculously so. _Why does the man even bother, with is poor skill at aiming?_

But in that same moment, as his vision was forced up, Suzaku saw his own Knightmare's arm hanging over him – suspended from _only one cable_ – and the curse that was supposed to keep him alive faltered—unable to see a way out, when death came at the knight from such an unexpected angle.

Like a rag-doll, Suzaku was forced up, then sideways, as the curse tried to avoid a bullet and the already-falling arm both at once. Suzaku would have preferred to ignore it all; pull out his gun and shoot Lelouch through the head—because that cursed man was well out in the open, now. The Knight of Seven would have died a happy death, if he could have just taken the devil down to hell with him.

But the curse did not understand. It saw only death, and it only acted to saved Suzaku from it. Even in this last, impossible moment, the curse fought to pull the knight away, leaping his body up in a feat of unheard-of gymnastics. But then time stopped, and Suzaku Kururugi _never even witnessed his own death._

_**000000000_00000000000**_

Yes, I am currently finishing this fic. Yes, reviewing does work, because it was your and all prompting messages that got my ass into gear. So thanks for the kick, n don't forget to review again!


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